Add By Dreams
by Adam Durlock
Summary: Everything felt like a dream. A dream of madness, pain, and suffering. Because of that, and the added changes, Naruto refuses to become a victim. However, she has now known Pain and she has to try to not teeter over the edge. Fem!Naru,Sasu,Kaka. No Pair.
1. Emotions and Feelings

It was the middle of the morning on a sunny day, scant few clouds floated their way sedately across the sky, and it was just an average day in an average way. People walked and talked their way through their daily routines while the shopkeepers started their openings, the sounds of doors opening, blinds being opened and the walk of village were out and about. It was a happy day and nothing had intruded on it. Yet, to every single bit of light a shadow must be cast and not all that was seen was innocent. These people, those civilians...most had a _fear_ in their hearts, and with that fear, came hatred. Both of those emotions were caused by the unknown and of the past, of something they just could not let go...

Would not let go...

They clung to their insecurities, using it to fuel their anger and rage as silently as they could on a single focus. The insolence and nerve of that...that _thing_ to continue to live and mock them and all they had done. Everyday its taint would cross their path, causing the worst of destruction and tragedy to come to the forefront of their minds and they would retaliate in any way they could. At first, they tried to kill the horrible little beast, but with every attempt, people disappeared while the thing continued to live and breathe their air. Their righteous attempts at ridding the foul thing were continually thwarted until eventually they came to the conclusion that lives were being wasted and just fuelling the life force of the monster.

That's not to say that the attempts stopped, no they were just sparser and far in-between. Of course, some in the past had become drunk and with their minds filled with the intelligence of alcohol, they became brave enough to tempt fate, and yet the monster still continued to live and offend their very senses. They did this for their righteous leader who had thwarted the beast's larger form, sacrificing himself to save all of those within the village. They continued to plan and in outright destruction of the fiend would not work, they would ridicule and scorn it in an attempt to chase it away, maybe even force it to kill itself to please them. They continued for years and years, even unto this very day, with people becoming bold once again. They did not attempt to kill anymore, not they would just beat the monster over and over, instead of out in the open, they took the alleyways, the darkness of the shadows, using it's domain against itself.

And within that darkness, three men hefted their clubs in yet another attempt to do in the vile abomination.

It cried out, a feral sound causing the three righteous men to back away just barely. It continued to scream and rant at them, but they hardened their resolve and moved in to save their families as the thing cowered like it should, taking its punishment.

The first club slammed down towards the intended target and blood splattered itself against the wall, a wail of agony becoming louder and fiercer.

For the first time in years however the sound did not emit itself from that little thing, not it came from one of those righteous protectors of their fellow civilians.

The foul beast had a weapon, and it held it with a sure grip, ready and poised to strike back, sure in its target this time.

The eyes of the men widened as they panicked and their shouts and screams could be heard from the alleyway, they made sure that all could hear that the beast had a weapon; it had attacked an innocent doing their duty to safeguard those around. Soon enough, people had gathered up their own weapons and stormed their way to the alleyway, backing the monstrosity into a corner where it held it's weapon, keeping all those at bay.

It would pay!

There must be a reckoning!

They surged forth as one, bringing their weapons to bear, ignoring the yowls of anger and they attempted to kill the thing once more. Their weapons against the beast started to strike, several people circling around it. As one brave soul managed to pierce the chest of the beast over its heart.

The last things it would know was darkness and pain, the haughty looks of the proud and proper people as it looked down upon the mistake, knowing they had down a job well done, even reaching out to take its eyes with another blow.

Yet before darkness took it over, it saw the looks of sudden fear on the ones in front and this time there was more blood, more screams, and this time, the bodies started to pile...

* * *

_**Add By Dreams**_

* * *

_It's Ending and  
__Now It's coming  
__It's a Race with Death  
__And You're In the Running_

* * *

An old man sat in white and red robes, his large hat askew over his head as he looked down at the body before him in the bed in his private chambers inside of his sub-office. A soft look had crossed his wizened and old features as he shook his head. Why? Why would his people do something like this? To a child of all things? A little girl, beaten for something she had no choice over, left for dead by the very people she was protecting, and to think, that if she had been killed, that her seal might have broken and let out the real threat.

"Hokage-sama." a dead and neutral voice called from just inside the door where he had sat.

"Speak, Weasel." Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed wearily as he pushed his hat back up and turned on his stool to look at his youngest ANBU.

"The survivors have been sent to Ibiki-san."

"How many killed?"

"Inu killed at least ten, two of which were the primary antagonists of this incident."

Sarutobi let out another weary sigh as he continued to look at Itachi Uchiha before turning back towards the little girl passed out in the bed. "So she's back from Snow."

"Yes sir, shall I retrieve her?"

"Go."

The young teen nodded silently as his body broke up in a flock of ravens before they flew silently out the window while the Third Hokage continued to look down at the red-haired girl, his head bowed in grief at what he was looking at. "You look so much like your mother, dear child..." he murmured while closing his eyes to contemplate and think, it wasn't long before he felt the subtle feeling of another of his ANBU appear in the room.

"Hokage-sama." the woman with silver hair spoke gently.

"Welcome back, Inu. Report." The Hokage's voice was crisp, and Inu knew that her leader didn't want the report from Snow that she had ready.

"Sir. I had just entered the main gates of the village after concluding my mission to Snow when I started to hear screams of anger from somewhere." The woman paused as slowly walked over to his Hokage and the child that lay listless on the bed. "As I got closer, I could smell the blood. I reacted without thinking once I came upon the scene. Sir." the experienced ANBU's voice was starting to gain emotion, anger and annoyance at what she had seen.

"Kakashi, take off your mask." The Third ordered as he turned to look at the young woman whom complied. Her ANBU mask coming off into her hand, one eye a pale color, the other a swirling mass of red and black as three tomoe rotated violently on the left side of her face. "Now calm down. You did the right thing." Honestly, he was surprised that she only killed as few of the fools as she did.

It took a moment of silence and a few angry growls before Hatake Kakashi finally managed to calm down, her eyes closing for a moment before she sighed. "Who managed to get her here?"

"Dolphin took care of it. He should have been there before you even showed up." The Third grimaced slightly at that.

"That's not like Dolphin." Kakashi said, finally taking a seat and looking down at the girl.

"No. He's ashamed of himself really. It seems there was an accident on the other side of the village. We're not sure if it really as an accident or planned in advance." Kakashi looked at her Hokage briefly as she pulled out her headband and wrapped it around her head, covering her Sharingan eye before it began to make her tired. There was a dead silence between them that lasted until it was just barely awkward.

"Sir. I'd like to request my removal from ANBU to Jounin status." Kakashi finally said after a moment, trying to keep calm. "I don't really care about the pay difference..." she trailed off, looking up, her face uncharacteristically remorseful." I just want to stay here in the village and spend some time with her."

"Thank you Kakashi." Hokage said gently, placing his hand on the teen's shoulder as he stood up. "Despite your young age, you're one of the best in the village and having you as a more open face around the child might make things calm down. Really though, these couple of years as ANBU have been too much for you four..."

"I can hope so, sir." the silver haired teen said with a sigh, bringing up the first part, not really thinking about her other teammates all that much at this point. "What about the survivors the others rounded up?"

"They've been taken to T&I. It's Ibiki's training case for being in charge and the same goes for Anko's first real chance since Oorchimaru fled a few months ago." The old man watched the teen's eye harden slightly as they looked at each other for a moment.

"Hokage-sama, I would like to request one last mission as ANBU." Kakashi spoke crisply, trying to not look down at the girl.

"Granted. I would also like you to speak to Anko and Ibiki when you go." The Third smiled grimly, tilting his hat down a little. "Tell them to do whatever they want, they can even experiment." He then pulled out a scroll from within his robes and handed it over.

"Sir. Thank you sir." Kakashi said softly as she took on last look at the girl laying prone in the bed, a hand reaching down to ruffle the crimson hair a little. "She looks so much like her mother..." she said with a faint smile, echoing what The Third had said moments previous, before making a single _Ram_ seal and disappearing in a Shunshin.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took out his pipe and put it in his lips with a soft sign, looking down at the little girl and shaking his head a little. "Sometimes I feel as if I've never done a single thing right." A shake of his head as he made a _Tiger_ seal and lit his pip with a _Katon_ he had invented not long after he started smoking. A quick puff on his pipe before let out a small low ring of smoke from the other side of his mouth. He sat down for a moment, looking over the ghastly medical report as Weasel reappeared from the shadows.

There was silence for several minutes, allowing Sarutobi to continue to look at the medical report. It certainly was a horrible thing to read, eyes slashed at, though he had watched as the scar over her nose and the sides of her face healed and disappeared. Kunai to the chest, piercing past her ribs and nicking her heart. Beaten, bruised, bloody, and pretty much in a coma. A sigh escaped his lips as he finally put it down, he then looked over to listen.

"Sir."

"I need you to watch the child while I call for the council to come early."

"Sir. There was one more thing."

"What was it, Weasel?"

"She was originally on her way to meet with Sasuke Uchiha; it had been planned for the past several days."

There was a pause and the Third pondered if this could be spun to his benefit. After all negotiations between him and Fugaku were starting to fall apart and at this rate Danzo might think to do something stupid to protect the village. He didn't very much well like using the little girl for something like this, but if it would prevent what would happen, he knew she would have been all for it.

"Thank you Weasel." Sarutobi glanced at the eleven year old ANBU for a moment. "With Inu requesting her removal from ANBU, you might be up for another promotion soon."

"Sir, I believe Iris and Dolphin both are thinking of requesting the same." Weasel's voice was monotone. "I do believe Iris, after today, wishes to retire and become a set of eyes in the civilian populace."

"My best squad." The Hokage responded with a dry chuckle, even if two of them were eleven, one was sixteen and the last was nineteen. "It's fine really." He took another puff from his pipe and finally becoming serious about what exactly has gone one. "No one is to enter this room outside of me. Use any means to eject whoever tries. My personal physician has already gone over her and I need to get ready to deal with my teammates and the civilians."

"Sir."

With that, the Hokage gave one of his two youngest ANBU a small nod before walking out the room, closing it and leaning against the door with a small sigh. "I'm so sorry..." he whispered before disappearing in a silent Shunshin.

* * *

_This is Insanity  
__So I'm now your lies  
__Look at me and smile  
__While everything dies_

* * *

Kakashi Hatake was not happy. Here she was, coming up on her twentieth birthday, a successful soon to be former ANBU for the past few years and she had finally gotten home after a truly horrible mission to protect kidnap a Princess from the Land of Snow to save her from an insurrection from within. Honestly, the entire ordeal had been a real pain in the ass, especially getting away from the country. "Hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass in a few years." she mumbled, looking down at the mask she had in his hand.

She did all her thinking while looking at the mask while walking into Torture and Interrogations.

Ignoring some of the looks she was getting, knowing full well she was getting them because she wasn't wearing his mask like she normally was. She had barely taken the thing off over the past several years after all. "Where's Anko?" She asked one of the Nin behind a desk.

"She's about to deal with one of the men from that attack earlier." He snorted disdainfully, he was one of the Nin that had also had guard duty, and all of the ANBU and former ANBU that did loved their little charge. "I can get her on the Comm and ask her to wait if you want."

"Yeah." She threw a scroll onto the desk. "From the Hokage, concerning the incident." Kakashi sighed and started to walk past the desk as the man started to unwrap it. "I'm taking personal care of the fucker that stabbed her with a kunai."

"You're kidding me, right? That's a fellow Nin?" The man was suddenly disgusted even more.

"Failed Genin, son of a merchant on the council too." Kakashi smiled with her eye as she stopped at the corner he needed to turn down. "If you'll excuse me, I have a stupid son of a bitch to torture. Ja ne." She said the last part almost cheerfully, causing the older man behind the desk to shudder.

It didn't take long for Kakashi to make her way to where she was going, a few floors down, a couple corridors traversed and a few doors opened and closed. Really, it wasn't all that hard to remember, she'd been here before, she'd be here again too. It didn't take all that long until she came across one of the people she was looking for. "Anko."

Anko Mitarashi was a violet haired teenager, as Kakashi recalled; the teen was two years younger than she was. She was dressed in a mesh body stocking covered in chainmail, short skirt and a tan trench coat.

"Kakashi." she responded, ever so slightly annoyed. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"What didn't get the Comm?" She asked cheerfully.

"Don't give me that shit, you lazy bitch." she growled out. "This was supposed to be part of my evaluation; I was looking for a promotion."

"Now, now, that isn't a way to talk to a superior you know." Kakashi said with a cant of her head off to the right his voice going from lazy to serious in a snap. "This is my last mission as an ANBU, personally given by the Hokage. Now are you going to move or shall I move you myself, _Chuunin_?"

"...What the hell Kakashi?" Anko asked, wide-eyed as she moved quickly to the side.

"...You seriously don't know?" Kakashi asked, stopping in surprise.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she bit out tersely, nearly spitting off to the side in annoyance.

Kakashi's single visible eye narrowed at that, she really would have to have a talk with the newly promoted Ibiki Morino "He stabbed our little charge in the chest with a kunai. She was nearly dead for several minutes, Anko." She spoke before finally moving towards the door. Kakashi knew she was starting to feel a little sluggish. She had just gotten back from a mission and she hadn't rested yet, and hell, she would normally have come to do something like this at least an hour late after going to the meeting stone, but even she knew when to prioritize things.

"Fine." Anko said with a sigh. "Give 'em hell for me, though can I at least watch?"

"I'm not here for information." Kakashi said finally before pulling up her headband, closing the scarred eye and putting her ANBU mask on. "I'm here to beat a son of a bitch to death." The voice behind the mask was creepily cheerful, but hidden away was a dead and blank look. Finally she opened up the door and closed it behind herself.

The room itself was a standard interrogation room in size but it was also covered top to bottom in seals that were done by Jiraiya-sama himself. The seals were meant for recording both visual and audio and relaying it back to another area. They were a bit more useful than camera because they also shut down the chakra of whoever was tied into the chair in the middle of the room. There was a single light situated right in the center on the ceiling and it was also what looked like the base of the multiple seals. It was normally used for only high risk prisoners yet there hadn't really been many incidents within the village, at least not since the Hyuuga Incident and the Kumo Jounin.

"Wake up, you stupid bastard." Kakashi said in a monotone as she reached out and casually backhanded the man strapped down.

Said man that was strapped down was somewhat obese, though not in the way of an Akimichi where that was mostly muscle however, this was just fat. He had greasy and limp brown hair and he didn't seem to be taking care of himself all that well. Of course, that could be from a number of different things. Kakashi didn't care for the man's name, that information had already been gathered thanks to the punk having been a former Genin when he was younger. All Kakashi really cared about was, well...nothing really. Now that she thought about it, this was a total waste of time; maybe it would've been best just to shove a Chidori down the man's throat.

No sense in wasting the chakra on a Raikiri after all. Though with no response, Kakashi simply backhanded him again. "Either you wake up or I pull out a kunai and start stabbing you."

There was no answer. Maybe the man really was unconscious?

_Meh_.

Kakashi pulled out a kunai from her weapon's pouch, twirling it on a finger and walking around the man. She was twirling it very closely to the man's ear every time she was near that part of his body. The fat bastard was just pretending and he thought he could pull one on an ANBU Commander? On her fifth little circle around the fat man, she stopped and swiped his kunai and finally nicked the man on the top of his ear causing the man to stiffen and whimper out a pained sound.

"Yare yare, so you are awake now." Kakashi said mock cheerfully behind her mask. "Good. Now we can do this on of any number of ways. Though, I've got a couple personal favourites." She reached up and stroked the chin of her mask in contemplation. "Of course, first off, I'm going to talk and you're going to listen."

The man spat out some blood directly onto Kakashi's mask. "Let me out...of here..." he started to pant out. "...father is...on the...council." he started to huff.

"Oh, is that so? I guess I'll have to do this then..." The twirling kunai stopped and pulled away slowly and the man's face suddenly had a look of relief on it; however that quickly changed as the kunai that had been twirled around, cutting into his ear, was now plunged directly into his thigh and the man bit out a painful scream. "I don't give a flying fuck who's on the council or any of that shit, _scum_." The word was bit out like a vile epitaph. "You attacked a child, a civilian of your own village. You as a former Genin ninja should've known better."

"Attacked a demon..." The man bit out angrily while trying to fight back the tears of pain, but that was next to impossible now as Kakashi lifted a hand and simply backhanded the man, nearly breaking his jaw with the force of her swing.

"You attacked a child of Konoha, which in itself would warrant interrogation. However, you went against one of the biggest laws and we all know what that means." Kakashi pulled the kunai out of the man's thigh and held it up for him to see the blood coating it. "But wait, there's even more charges too. Drunk and Disorderly, Attempted Murder, Treason...do I need to go on?"

The man paled at both the sight of his own blood and the charges being listed off, he had to be in the right, and his father had said so! "...was doing it for the village..." he mumbled out through his pained jaw.

The kunai traced a small cut across the man's cheek for that comment before being pulled back and twirled on a finger once again. "That so, huh?"

"...of course!" he breathed out in response.

"So, you did it for, what, The Fourth?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly, watching the man nod vehemently. "My my..." She trailed off and stopped twirling her kunai. "You say you're doing something for my former Sensei, but you're going against his express wishes on the matter. He'd be very disappointed in you." With that said Kakashi walked behind the man and rammed the kunai into the obese man's shoulder blade from behind. Smashing the bone and cracking it apart while leaving it there so the fat bastard could scream in terrified pain. "I should slit your throat right here you useless fucker, but I figure I should let you in on a little secret that isn't a secret." Kakashi pulled back, slipping her mask off while still behind the man and opening her scarred eye. Revealing the Sharingan hidden beneath, she did a quick once over of the seals once again and then she made several quick hand seals, shorting out the bunch. She'd only have a moment before Ibiki or Anko showed up so she'd have to make this quick. "You see, you attacked a little girl, that's contemptible in of itself. Not only that, but you committed an even worse sin. You see, the child is..." She trailed off and leaned in, whispering the rest into the man's ear while making a few more hand seals.

The sudden chirping of birds was the only sound for half a second before Kakashi leaned back and thrust her hand forward into the back of the man's skull and out through the front of his face with a blindingly fast thrust of her hand. The gray and red spray was interspersed with chunks of skull bone and the wet, sloppy material of the man's eyes and even a chunk of his tongue was fried off. None too soon either as Ibiki Morino kicked open the door and growled at almost being sprayed by the dead man's remains.

"God-dammit Hatake. What the hell did you do?" The bear of a man narrowed his eyes as the question was called out.

A shrug was the main response as Kakashi, pulling her mask back on also pulled her kunai out of the half-headless corpse's shoulder. "Wanted to tell him something off the record so he'd agonize while he rots in hell." The scarred man glared for a moment and Kakashi rolled her shoulders in another shrug. "Now if you'll excuse me. I have to write a report up about my last two missions."

"This isn't over Hatake." Ibiki finally stepped aside after glaring down at the shorter man.

"Don't try to make promises you can't keep. You might outrank me officially as of now, but I can still kick your ass from one end of the village to the other, Morino." Kakashi snorted as she walked by the taller, and ever so slightly older, man.

With that, Kakashi Hatake removed herself from the cell, smirking beneath her mask while overhearing how long it would take the seals to be fixed. It'd be priceless to hear his reaction when the seals started working in ten minutes, but the silver-haired woman had things to do and places to go. Though she did stop when she saw Anko at the building exit.

Five minutes later, she had been coerced into a date at a Dango shop later that evening; she even said she would pick her up at the Memorial Stone. After she had showered and changed of course.

Nice girl, that Anko.

Now if only she knew how well her favourite little brat was doing...

* * *

_this black hole drags  
__me down under  
__drowning me with  
__nothing but a number_

* * *

It was dark, foreboding, and desolate. There was nothing here, nothing there. All broken and torn apart, and yet, it was oddly peaceful. It was agony, yet it was filled with the emptiness of a gentle order. Silent and alone, left to drift away, waiting for chaos to take it'd hold once again. The blinded truth was always gone, never alive, because they hated.

They hated with their pain.

They held onto their pain because of hate.

Yet there it was, just floating there, the darkness of the soul, pitch black they would say. Never right, never wrong, never here, never there. Always gone, always missing, always just a corner away. A little girl, that's what she was. A little girl, that's what she wasn't anymore. Almost dead and gone, empty shell, the husk of a lifeless soul at the praecipe, staring over the edge.

Just one step.

One final step into oblivion.

The chains of darkness held though, she couldn't take that dive off of the edge like she wanted. The pain and agony wouldn't go away. The blood wouldn't stop dripping down her skin. Then in the darkness, something appeared, something glowing against the darkness. Darkness against the darkness, evil, but it didn't come from without like the other sensations. It had not been a cause but an effect. All from within did it bubble and toil, growing larger, sinister, sharper, finally taking shape, floating just past the edge.

It whispered over to her, beckoning her, wanting her to take that step.

She wanted to take that step.

They needed to take that step.

It would make all the pain go away. The suffering, the anger, the hate, the blood, the bruises, all of it would just go away.

The whispers grew louder...It would, it would, so do it, do it, do it do it do it _doit doit doit __**doitdoit DOITDOITDOIT! DO IT NOW! **_The voice continues to scream in silence, begging, pulling, wanting.

She did not move.

It demanded the final sacrifice. That the path to oblivion must be taken, to be free from all of the suffering. Free from those hateful glances, the angry mutterings. Don't think of it anymore; take the last step to freedom.

She did not move.

Why? Why? Why must they suffer? Why can't they finally have their peace? Shouldn't they get what they deserve? This was a chance at freedom, and the whispers went from demanding to pleading, whimpering, crying. Yet the darkness remained, the vile emotions sustaining themselves just out of reach, trying to plead it's case one last time. It needed it, she needed it, and they needed it all. It would be right, wouldn't it? The chains within the darkness were starting to dissolve; it knew that the time was nearing.

She did not move.

The whispers, those voices, they ranted and raved while she started to understand the darkness, and empty feeling that was all around her. Suddenly it was all blanketed by an enduring rage and the pitch black gave way to a searing crimson. The voices blanketed, the whispering stopped, the darkness was thrown away, and the mind numbing empty feeling was replaced. All of it gone in what seemed like an instant to all be replaced by the sensations of anger, hate, rage, all of it coming from within. The chains within the darkness disappeared while the chains within the darkness seemed to disappear. The last step was finally so close, that pitiful step to finally quit and have their freedom. Then there was something different, something profound...

_'It was only ever your choice...'_

She took one step...

* * *

_Our Fourth soul  
__She whispers softly to the mirror  
__'I'm Nothing...  
__Please just kill me here.'_

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki suddenly snapped opened her eyes, however the sudden brightness way too much to bare after being enclosed within the darkness causing her to hiss lowly in pain. The low sound was enough to attract the attention of the other occupant within the room. She ignored him however as she shut her eyes so the pain could start to subdue. Even then, it took a few moments of agonizing whiteness before the pain started to subdue itself, and then it was only to be replaced by something different, something..._off_. It took a few moments before she could catch the memories that she was also touching upon, taking a moment to go over them before opening her eyes slowly, taking a few short breaths before finally looking about the room she didn't recognize as her own.

"Jiji's...room...?" she murmured to herself, realization coming to her. Looking around, and spotting the ANBU within the room with her, she was able to recognize the mask though that in itself caused her to blink a few times while looking at him. "Weasel-niisan, where's the old man?" Naruto frowned slightly while she looked at him, there was something off about the entire thing but she couldn't comprehend it at all. Not to mention what were all those pretty colors?

"He is meeting with the Council." The monotone voice came back after a moment, his voice muffled slightly from the mask. "Dolphin brought you to Hokage-sama, and the majority of the day has passed." He took a few steps closer to her, inclining his head ever so slightly to get a good look at her, the majority of the damage had already healed, or at least the ones on the surface had save a few here and there.

"I..." she trailed off, biting her bottom lip and looking away, pulling the blankets to her rather small form. "I saw Inu-neesan; does that mean she's back...?" Her voice had gone rather timid at that soft question.

"Yes, child. She was the first one to find you and started to get them away." he continued in his soft monotone.

Naruto remained silent, knowing full well that Weasel-niisan was the most emotionless of the four ANBU she had come to slightly know. Dolphin-niisan was the most cheerful of the bunch while Inu-neesan was always gone on long missions but was the most protective, and Iris-neesan was the one to always treat her to food. "I hope I can see her soon..." she still spoke softly and started to rub her eyes, they were really starting to aggravate her.

Weasel cocked his head to the side, watching the child and after a moment he moved over towards her and gently took her hands away from her eyes, he didn't say anything, but the girl slowly complied and opened her eyes for him to look at. If Weasel was anyone else, his eyes would have widened at what they saw, however, Weasel was a true stoic and nothing disturbed his internal robot, not even something that shouldn't exist. "Everything is fine." he said in his usual monotone, those the barest of smiles slipped onto his mask-hidden lips. "I believe that Hokage-sama will be giving you an early birthday gift though."

It was the perfect distraction and the slip of a red-head suddenly started to smile brightly. "Do you mean it, Weasel-niisan?"

"I do, child. I'll go tell him to bring it with him now." A small murmur as he turned around and a carbon copy of him appeared in a small poof of smoke which then disappeared in almost the exact same way it appeared. He turned and looked and looked blankly at the little girl. "Yes?"

"How did you do that?" Naruto asked, blinking a few times.

"Now that..." Weasel trailed off with a pause, leaning closer and bringing a single finger up. "...is a secret."

"Weasel-niisan...that was lame."

"..."

"Seriously. _Lame_."

The masked ANBU pre-teen just rolled his shoulders in a shrug, moving past the stolen joke and looking towards the door. "Hokage-sama will be here eventually. Do your eyes still hurt?"

"A little, really." Naruto sighed softly; rubbing her face a little while secretly glad she got her hair cut really short last week. It was always in the way otherwise. "You have a mirror so I can see?"

Weasel quietly slipped his hand into one of his pouches and pulled out a small compact mirror before handing it over quietly before prudently ignoring Naruto, not wanting to listen to the outburst she would likely give concerning the change in her violet eyes. If only The Third would show up soon and he could clear away from the younger child. She was hell on his stoic demeanour.

Outside, a raven cried out: "Ahou! Ahou!"

* * *

_One blood stained tear...  
__Another broken body in another day...  
__Smile 'cause you're dying...  
__Cry 'cause I'm laughing...  
__And you have nothing to say._..

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a long puff from his pipe and looked out the small window in the room, looking at the clouds as they floated slowly past in the sky. He really didn't want to be here in the council room and he really didn't want to be dealing with the meeting that was about to start. He was alone in the room with his two former team members, now his closest advisors, and he still hadn't really informed them of the goings on. Finally he did turn around, letting out a ring of smoke from the other corner of his mouth, looking at the two of them quietly for a moment before finally speaking. "I'm out of ideas."

The two of them gave off a look of surprise. "What do you mean?" Homura asked.

"By all rights?" Sarutobi asked softly while ignoring the question and moving towards his chair at the head of the large, ornate desk. "She died in that attack." His eyes went flat and both his advisors had very dark looks. "Yet when ANBU got her to a medic, her heart was slowly starting to beat again. Dolphin had originally declared her dead at the scene, but took her to my personal medic anyway. The medical report was ghastly." His voice was cold and emotionless now. It hurt to talk about a little child like this. Like some cold monster.

"Hiruzen..." Koharu said softly.

"What would he think of us? Koharu, Homura...we can't even protect a child from something like this." Sarutobi closed his eyes and let loose another ring of smoke. "Yet, in the end, she somehow made it out, alive." A grimace passed his features as he sat down wearily.

Homura grunted and adjusted his glasses, looking towards the door; he could sense a chakra signature making its way, odd that it was Fugaku showing up before anyone else. "How many of the clan heads know?" he asked after turning back to his Hokage, the un-worded parts of the question readily apparent to the other old man.

"Hiashi Hyuuga and Fugaku Uchiha, obviously. I do believe Shikaku Nara knows, though that information probably spreads to the other two if so, I hope not though. Not sure about Tsume, Shiba, or any of the other clans." Hiruzen sighed and let out another ring of smoke slowly, waiting for the door to open as well.

As it did a moment later, Fugaku Uchiha strode in, looking like he had a purpose and he was on top of the world. "Hokage-sama, Honoured Elders." he said with a simple nod of his head towards the latter.

"You're a tad earlier than usual, Uchiha-san." Hiruzen slipped into his 'professional' attitude, pulling the pipe from his mouth. "What can I do for you, something that can't be covered by the council?"

Fugaku almost let a light grimace pass his lips. He really didn't like the way the day had been turning out so far. Here it was, not even mid-afternoon and a council meeting had been called early. "I was given a report from some members of the village police." He finally said, amicably no less. "I would like to request the location of..." he was stalled by his Hokage lifting up a hand to pause him.

"Uchiha-san, before I hand out that information, may I ask why you're requesting it." Hiruzen arched a gray eyebrow at the man.

This time a grimace did slip past his lips. "My daughter, Sasuke, is worried. They have been playing together for the past several weeks. The child has always been early..." He watched as his Hokage narrowed his eyes for a moment, watching the older man finally nod to himself.

There was silence between the four in the room before it was broken by The Third. "The child is being watched by one of my ANBU as of right now. This meeting is about why that is." he continued to watch Fugaku silently, the man before him was not the clan-head that came to these council meetings, this was a father worried about his children. "Weasel is watching her, she's unconscious right now." He watched as Fugaku's eyes narrowed slightly, the man knew exactly who Weasel was.

"Why him?" Fugaku asked slowly and calmly.

"Out of all my ANBU, I trust him the most to do what is right." Hiruzen finally picked up his pipe again, taking a puff from it. "I'll have a message sent to your wife so she can let Sasuke-chan known while you're here."

"...And the man responsible?"

"Being dealt with in T&I. Probably dealt with before this meeting is even over."

"_Good._" The Uchiha clan leader snarled.

The vehemence of Fugaku's voice almost took Hiruzen and his two closest advisors by surprise, but they were old hat at the political game by now, and in all honesty, it caused the old Hokage to smile a little. "Why don't you take a seat, Fugaku-san?" He got a slightly raised eyebrow at that, "The others should be here momentarily and this way you can get a good look at their faces when they see you're here first."

Fugaku let a sly grin slide on his lips. Maybe if it continued like this, things would look up and the clan wouldn't be so...adamant about certain things.

That all being said, the Nin side of the two councils starts to make their way inside after a couple moments. Shikaku Nara was the first to arrive, which was usual despite his usual laid back attitude. One doesn't make Head Jounin by doing nothing after all. Following him were his two friends and squad mates, Chouza Akimichi, and Inoichi Yamanaka. They were conversing amongst themselves for the most part, but once Shikaku spotted Fugaku sitting in his usual spot his eyes narrowed at the Hokage who merrily puffed away on his pipe. He did catch a very minor nod though.

Tsume and her rather feral self-came second, along with Kuromaru, which was slightly unusual and when asked about it by Inoichi, she just rolled her shoulders and pointed at their Hokage. The one eyed dog just sat down near the door and didn't say anything. She also stared at Fugaku for almost a full minute.

Eventually the rest of the clan heads filed in, their reactions all somewhat similar to Tsume and Shikaku.

Fugaku held a bland and straight face the entire time, though inwardly he was rather amused and he could tell his Hokage was sharing his amusement as well. Though when Hiashi finally walked in, stopping at the door and flat out glaring at his former squad member, the mask slipped and Fugaku simply smirked at the pale-eyed man. It was a sight to see when the stoic Hyuuga spluttered incoherently for half a second before taking his place next to the Uchiha with a mild glare.

'_Maybe I should start coming early to these just to see his face like that._' Fugaku mused silently to himself, allowing a real smile to slip on to his lips.

That of course, set of wide-eyes around the room except for the Hokage, an uncaring Tsume and near emotionless Shiba Aburame.

'_Politics. Gotta love it._' The Hokage snorted beneath his breath.

As the small talk continued, the first of the civilian council members walked in. Not but moments later, both sides of the council were present with Danzo being the last one to walk in. Hiruzen let them talk for a moment, basking in amusement at some of the things he was hearing. After all, he hardly ever called the council together, especially not for an early and somewhat emergency meeting. Finally, he set his pipe down and everyone silenced for a moment.

With a faint nod, more to himself than anything, Sandiame-sama steeled his features and looked at everyone within the room. "Before we proceed with why I called for this session early, why don't we get the usual details out of the way?"

The usual details were reports from everyone about varying things from the Economy to how well the Academy was doing. Funds were allocated to various things as well and the paperwork would be filled out by the parties associated with the Hokage giving his final approval at a later date.

"Alright, now that all of that is out of the way." The Hokage paused, picking up his pipe and lighting it once again with a seal less _Katon_ before taking a long and slow puff. "Earlier today there was a commotion on one side of town. While normally that wouldn't be considered much in the way of news, what happened as a result of this rather large commotion on another side of town is of particular importance." Another puff before he continued on, his eyes hardening. "As a result of diverted police forces and some planning, a couple drunken civilians and former Nin decided to attack a child in an alleyway."

There was dead silence within the council chamber that proceeded until another ring of smoke lifted itself into the air.

Every single ninja suddenly knew exactly why the council session had been called, and so did a good portion of the civilian side. Whereas the Ninja all suddenly schooled their features into utterly blank faces, the civilians all ran the gamut of feelings. The Hokage suddenly had some hope as a good majority of them were shocked at the news, though there were a couple that were smirking a little, as if they were congratulating themselves.

"May we ask of the identity of the child, Hokage-sama?" One of the civilians who didn't know the reason why asked.

The aged Hokage shook his head slightly, "For the protection of the child, I'm afraid not."

"What happened then?" Another asked. This one was scowling rather openly at the thought of what had happened.

There was another pause of silence as the Hokage set down his pipe with a grimace. "The child was cornered within an alleyway, as I mentioned a moment ago, when they decided to attack. Obviously they weren't thinking due to their inebriated state, but that doesn't excuse what they did. At first, the child managed to defend itself with a hunk of metal, scratching the hand of one of the two civilians. As a result of this, a large crowd gathered and tried to join in on beating on the child." Another pause to let that sink in. More of the civilians were starting to figure out exactly what was going on. A crowd didn't just form to beat on a child at random. "They gathered together and beat the child down until one of the original three, the former Nin to be exact, stabbed the child with a kunai he should not have had. He stabbed a little child right through the ribs, going for the child's heart."

Two councilmen were almost openly grinning at that. '_Fools._' Hiruzen thought.

"After that, one of the mob decided to, with a kunai still in the child's chest no less, use a knife and blind the child with a swipe across the eyes." The Third made a hand gesture, running from one side of his face over the other with one of his hands. Thankfully, at this point, an ANBU returning from a long-term mission had come across what was going on and dealt with the situation accordingly." Another puff and this time the Hokage formed his own smirk, hidden behind the pipe. One of the two council members paled at that, and Hiruzen didn't bother to expand on how an ANBU deals with something like that.

"With that said, all civilians involved have been put under arrest and are currently explaining why exactly they thought what they did was a good idea. The former Nin-however..." he trailed off and looked at two councillors who obviously had this planned. "Abura Hakuchi is to be executed for his crimes. After his interrogation, I'm sure it's to be taken care of."

"What? You can't do this!" One of the two councillors sputtered out, angrily.

"Councillor Noroi Hakuchi, any Nin, former or current who assaults a member of the civilian populace is usually put under arrest and the penalties are severe. I do believe you were one of the most ardent supports of this not a few years ago." Sarutobi grinned behind his pipe. Now it was coming to bite the man in the ass. "The penalties for _almost_ _killing _a child are just that much worse."

"But...my son..." the fat councilmember paled even more.

"All the more reason. He should have known better. I refuse to play favourites with this council. In fact." He made a gesture of hand signs and four ANBU appeared within the room. Taking place behind the two specific councillors. "ANBU, take these two to Ibiki and make sure he finds out why they ordered a child assaulted in the middle of the day." The two were dragged out of the chairs and taken from the room after being knocked unconscious.

"Now then, I'm afraid at this point, I'll be dismissing the Civilian Council from the rest of this meeting as there are several high-class secrets that need to be conversed about. Good day everyone." He nodded as the civilians and merchants got up and filed out, all with a few words to the Hokage and a few of the Clan Heads.

Once they were all gone, decorum, for the most part, broke with a single word from Shikaku. "Troublesome."

"Hokage-sama..." Fugaku started to speak but Hiruzen held up his hand for silence for just a second.

"I'm sure you all know who I was talking about. Uchiha-san, there are a few things I would like to discuss with you after this is over." The Hokage lifted an eyebrow ever so slightly as he made a hand sign and another of his ANBU appeared. Fugaku stiffened slightly when he saw the mask, and so did Hiruzen. However, the ANBU bowed his head and whispered something into the Hokage's ear, causing the man to relax, then stiffen slightly and then finally relax once more. The masked ANBU then stood and inclined his head slightly to Fugaku before disappearing into a puff of smoke.

The Hokage relaxed visibly and let out an explosive breath. "Hyuuga-san, I'd like you to stay as well, I'll be needing something from your clan today." He got a curt nod from Hiashi.

"Was there anything else, Hokage-sama?" Shiba asked softly.

"Matters with the Academy. I'd like the _Container_ to start attending early." He grumbled at the use of the word, but made no sign of it otherwise.

"Are you sure that's a wise idea?" One of the clan heads asked.

"No doubt the child will not do the greatest at first but it'll get the child off the streets during the day, it's the safest thing I can think of." The Hokage sighed softly. "I'll need to find a place for the child to stay as well. And no, none of you can take the child in. You know why."

Tsume looked the most disappointed in that, though Inoichi came a close second. They couldn't do anything since Naruto was still technically a civilian and was under civilian laws. Shikaku just grunted in a disconcerted way. Most of them thought back to a couple weeks ago when Chouza found Naruto digging through his trash, looking for food, the child was slightly frightened at the size of the large man, and it had come out that the she had been kicked out of the Orphanage several days previously and she had been starving. Suffice to say, the Hokage didn't spare much in his wrath.

"Alright. That's pretty much everything." The Hokage blinked a few more times before looking around, stopping his gaze at Shikaku for a moment. "Now, whomever knows the actual _truth_, can you stay behind for a moment longer?" there was just the slight emphasis on that word and most of the Clan Heads cleared out, leaving Danzo, Homura, Mikado, Tsume, Shikaku, Hiashi, Fugaku, Shiba, Chouza, and Inoichi.

"Alright, can you three leave?" He gestured to Danzo and his former squad members since they technically weren't clan-heads. "I know why both Hiashi-san and Fugaku-san know, as it's pretty obvious why Shikaku-san knows. What about the rest of you?" Hiruzen nodded at the rest, watching out of the corner of his eye while the three exited slowly, paying particular attention to Danzo and wondering why the man had a slight frown on his face.

"Shikaku told me before the law was made." Chouza said.

"She looks exactly like her mother; I did try asking her out a few times back in the Academy." Inoichi said with a wry smile.

"Brat smells like her parents." Tsume, obviously.

"Reasons similar to Inuzuka-san" Shiba stated neutrally while he lifted a finger with a couple bugs on it.

"Excellent." Hiruzen steeped his fingers together. "Today could have turned out a lot worse than it did, really."

"Agreed, something like what happened to Kushina could've happened today, that would have been more than just troublesome." Shikaku murmured loud enough for everyone to hear.

Everyone in the room grimaced at the thought of the last holder of the Kyuubi and what happened several years ago. It was still baffling on what happened, or how she managed to lose control and have her seal broken. Someone had to have done it, but no one really knew how or why. It was, frankly, baffling that such a thing would happen, especially on the same day that she was giving birth to her first child.

"Well, to that end. I'll be looking over suitable places for the child to live. I'll personally be paying for things." The Hokage finally said, mulling it over.

"Someone is going to have to buy her things for her. None of the Merchants are gonna wanna sell shit to the brat." Tsume snorted, looking over at Kuromaru whom still sat by the door and inclined his head slightly.

"More than just those two were involved, I could smell it." The dog spoke in a low, gruff voice. "Danzo smelled off as well."

"Wish we could just get rid of the civilian council as a whole, those shits have no understanding about what we do." Tsume declared, getting a few nods from the other clans.

The Third shook his head slightly. "Outside of their blindness when dealing with Naruto, they're the reason we're such a popular village for missions." A small grimace spread past his lips, "They like having a say in things which makes them happier, thus the rest of the populace feels happy too. With that being said. Fugaku-san, Hiashi-san, could the two of you stay behind for a moment? The rest of you are dismissed."

The other clan heads filed out, leaving just the two of the strongest clans in Konoha in the same room. "What I'm going to say here doesn't leave this room, ever." He made a few hand seals and sealed off the room in a barrier that reflected sound and sight. "The reason I've asked the both of you to stay is twofold. First off, in the attack, as mentioned, they attacked little Naruto's eyes." He saw both of the Clan Leaders grimace at that. Both having doujutsu, the eyes were some of the most important things to them and their clans. "Now, as a result of that, it would seem our precious little girl has awakened a Kekkei Genkai herself, or so Weasel has said, also a doujutsu." A pause to let them take than in as he looked almost forlorn down at his now empty pipe. "He's not sure what it is, so in light of that, I would ask the two of you to please watch out for her, especially considering she is friends with both Sasuke and Neji."

They both looked at each other and then both nodded to their Hokage, "Of course, Hokage-sama." They said at the same time as well causing a glare to go between them as well.

"Hiashi-san, I would also like to request some materials from your home, some of the Chakra reflective materials your family uses to build with. Preferably in a reflective one-way mirror." Hiruzen looked at the man who gave it a moment of thought before nodding. "Thank you. If possible, the size of say, a pair of goggles?" He reached into the folds of his robes and pulled out a pair of black goggles with a single eye piece. "It was originally supposed to be for her birthday...but it would seem she needs something like this now until she gets her doujutsu under control."

Another nod. "By your leave?"

"Yes. Thank you, Hiashi-san."

Fugaku waited until his former teammate left before looking at his Hokage, "Anything else, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes...there are a few things I would like to discuss with you."

It would be a couple hours later that Fugaku finally departed the council chambers, another hint of a smile on his features.

* * *

_Lost in despair  
__Alone with a fear  
__Least it's just a dream  
__Falling down a cliff  
__...Just a dream..._

* * *

The room had been silent for a few hours now as little Naruto had fallen back asleep, exhausted after her initial bout of energy having left her. Before she had fallen back asleep, she had pestered Weasel for some food and had gotten a couple sticks of vanilla pocky for her troubles. It sure wasn't ramen, but what really was? Admittedly, the masked ANBU thought it was kind of amusing in a weird way; of course, he'd never say that to anyone without ruining his image when he'd been cultivating these last couple of years.

Why an eleven year old ANBU needed an image was known only to that said eleven year old however. Especially considering that his entire unit was comprised of Konoha's best super-geniuses, well, outside of Dolphin that was. He was the former _Dead Last_ of the Academy even if that kind of thing didn't really mean squat in the real world. After all, what other members of his graduating class were ANBU? Most of them weren't even Chuunin yet.

Weasel's thoughts were cut short as the door to the room was knocked on twice and then opened, standing instantly off to the side with his hand on the hilt of his ANBU katana. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to use it as it was his Hokage that walked in the room. It was no Henge either, thankfully.

"Hokage-sama." The masked boy murmured respectfully.

"Weasel. Stand down." The Hokage said with a short nod. "How is she?"

"Outside of waking up and her eyes hurting as my clone told you, she's been sleeping for the past few hours."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, more to himself then to the quick report. "Sorry it took so long, I was talking with your father about certain things concerning the village and your clan." He watched the boy stiffen ever so slightly which got a chuckle in response. "No need to worry my boy, things are looking up. I also needed to get something from the Hyuuga family for her." Walking over, he tilted his hat down before sitting on the chair next to the bed that Naruto was currently sprawled out on. "Which means, you're dismissed. I can take care of things from here until she wakes up."

"Sir." There was a short pause. "She'll be hungry sir. I gave her some pocky as that was all I had on me."

The old Hokage just smiled at that and nodded, waving off the boy who also nodded in response before disappearing in his new favourite Raven-styled Shunshin. That left just the two within the room and Hiruzen simply waited silently. He'd much rather sit quietly instead of going through all the paperwork he had, after all, a Leader still needed a vacation here and there, right?

Hiruzen was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Naruto stirring on the small bed.

"Uhh...Jiji...?" she mumbled, stirring on the bed, finally trying to sit up and look at her favorite person in the whole village.

"Ah, good afternoon Naruto. Feeling any better?" The Hokage smiled gently down at the little girl.

The girl finally sat up slowly and looked a little downcast, her face away from the Hokage so he still couldn't see her eyes. "I...guess so." she mumbled. "I wasn't even doin' nothin' wrong." her voice almost seemed dead when she spoke now causing the old man to grimace while looking at her. Thankfully she didn't seem to see the twist of his lips. Though he patently ignored her double negative.

"Well, how about I get you to your new home?"

"Y-you found a place for me to stay?"

"Indeed."

"Didn't have to do that for me old man..."

"Think of it as part of an early birthday present, will you?"

"Really?"

"Of course. Now why don't we go over and see Teuchi? I hear his daughter Ayame is supposed to be back for good."

"Can we get Ramen too? I'm starving!"

"Of course. I'll even buy it for you." Hiruzen watched as the little girl finally looked up into his face with a smile finally gracing her face. Thankfully the wounds were all gone and it seemed like Weasel has repaired the cut in her shirt where she had been stabbed. She frowned when she looked at him; though it was more like past him and he also noticed her violet eyes were now slightly different. Maybe it was a doujutsu after all. "Something wrong?"

"Uhh, no, nothing." Naruto smiled brightly. "Come on, let's go!" She pushed the covers off herself and pushed off from the bed at the same time. She didn't want to weird out the old man by saying she was seeing weird colors in the sky. Maybe it'd go away eventually? Well, hopefully at least. She was already at the door, looking back at the old man and blinking a few times. "Well, what are you waiting for Jiji? Let's go-ttebayo!"

"Coming, coming." Hiruzen laughed and let the little girl lead him from the room.

Eventually they found their way out of the Hokage's Tower, away from the mountain that was the backdrop for the village and down the road main road. Once they took a side road and made another turn off before finally making their way to Teuchi's stand, just last week he had renamed the place Ichiraku's, using his last name of course. Everyone traded greetings, Ayame wasn't quite back yet, but she would soon, and the Hokage and the Village Pariah sat down to have a bowl of ramen, or Naruto's case, a few bowls. Teuchi did catch the look from the Hokage when he was about to ask about Naruto's gaze and quieted down, not but a moment later, his younger daughter Ayame did finally show up and the two girls talked between themselves while the older men shared knowing glances.

Once they were done, Hiruzen finally pulled out a pair of goggles for Naruto and handed them to her. They were a pair she'd been wanting, for whatever reason, but they had also been recently modified. He watched as she gaped at them and grinned at her reflection before putting them on proudly, placing them on her forehead with what looked like practiced ease.

"You like them?"

"I love them-ttebayo!"

"Just make sure you always wear them, and start covering your eyes when you start at the Academy next week, okay?"

That got a pause from the girl as she openly gaped. "I can goto the Academy? I get to start early?"

"We talked about it earlier today and everyone agreed that you'd get to start a bit earlier than kids your age."

That last bit threw Naruto for a loop. She heard the words but they didn't register at first. She had been wanting to be a ninja for a couple years now, ever since she really met her band of protectors, but she never thought she'd actually get to be a ninja. Almost everyone on the street told her she was worthless and wasn't worth the time or expense. The idea of actually doing it brought tears to her eyes, though she tried to hide them. "Thank you so much Jiji. Now you just wait, I'll take that hat from you-ttebayo!"

"That sounds like a great plan, Naruto." The old man smiled down at her. "Now why don't I show you were you're going to stay from now on?"

The five year old red-head giggled to herself and nodded vehemently. "Can Ayame-neesan come with us? _Pleeeeease_?" Naruto battered her eyes, trying for a pouty and girly look that caused the old man to laugh aloud.

The brunette on the other side of the counter smiled, "If it's okay with Father." she drawled.

"Of course." Her Father, Teuchi, grinned while shaking his head a little. He pulled out container and set up a carry-out set. "Take this with you, as a bit of a housewarming gift, 'ne?"

A moment later they were off. Old man Sarutobi was in front with Naruto perched on his shoulders and little Ayame following behind easily with a carry-out container. It didn't take them long until they reached the building Sarutobi chose for little Naruto. It in itself wasn't all that large, but it was closer to the Hokage Mountain than most other buildings, even if it was off to the side of the village, unlike near the center like Hokage Tower. The building was much like the rest of the village housing, though it was walled off a little, much like the Hyuuga compound. All in all, it was a quaint place and there was even an area for a garden to be tended to. In the end, the place was rather tidy and neat.

Setting Naruto down, Sarutobi looked at the little girl and let her run around the area, watching as she shouted this and that about how cool it all was and how she had always wanted her own garden. A moment later, Sarutobi unlocked the door for her and she ran inside looking around at all the rooms while He and Ayame made their way into the kitchen. Once Naruto was on the far side of the house, they started to talk in hushed tones.

"Hokage-sama." Ayame bowed her head, stifling a smile as he waved it off.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"Hai."

"That makes two of you being confirmed."

"I already did all the paperwork for mine so that you wouldn't have to, Hokage-sama."

"Such a sweet child. Now I just need to wait for..."

He was cut off as Naruto ran into the kitchen and latched herself to his leg, babbling on and on about how happy she was. Though, suddenly she paused, went wide eyes and gasped loudly. "_Sasuke!_ Oh no. I forgot all about her. Old man, I gotta go! See you later Ayame-neesan!"

Before either of the older two could react, Naruto bolted from the kitchen, out the door and towards the Uchiha Compound as fast as her legs could carry her. She left behind an openly laughing Hokage and a secretively smiling Ayame.

"That girl will never grow up." Hiruzen said, wiping a couple tears from his eyes. "You may as well leave that here for her, she'll probably drag Sasuke-chan back here later too."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Ayame said, her face betraying the small smile as she unpacked the Ramen. "Was there anything else before I got back to my father?"

She got a nod in response from the old man. "Could you pick up some odds and ends for Naruto? I'll have a Genin team doing a grocery run every week but that won't be until tomorrow when I assign it. It'd be better if she had some essentials for when she got home later today."

"Hai. I'll go gather things she might need after I drop this off at the shop." Ayame said, lifting the container before making a one handed seal and disappearing into a sudden rush of fire.

Hiruzen looked around the kitchen one last time, his gaze dragging its way across the wooden cupboards and tiled wall. "I'm sorry it took so long to get her home. Forgive me you two." A sad smile as he made a single seal himself and disappeared in a his usual silent way.

After all, tomorrow would be a brand new day.

* * *

_Pain is an Emotion  
__Emotions are Obsolete  
__Pain is a Feeling  
__Feelings can be Ignored_


	2. Truths and Fulfillments

_The Voice disguised  
__as unreason  
__Falling in with that  
__of treason..._

* * *

Naruto sat in the back corner of the classroom, specifically on the inside corner of the three person desk so that she was against the back wall and the corner of the room. She sat there primarily for a reason, the first of which was to watch everyone in the room. Second of which was that she could see incoming threats and she wouldn't be attacked from more than a couple directions. Naruto had turned into a little bit of a paranoid girl after the last chat she had with '_The Old Man'_, especially when she had been told that he wanted her to do a few things the entire time she was in the Academy.

It had been a week since she had been assaulted and left for dead, five days since she had been taken and sat down in a big chair and been given an actual mission. Two of them no less! She wasn't even a Genin and she knew she sure was on her way to being Hokage already. The first was to never reveal her new secret, of course, she didn't know what that was either, but it involved keeping her goggles on, and she loved her goggles. They were bright and shiny, though she honestly wished for either orange or red; after all, black was Sasuke-chan's favorite colour...even if it wasn't really an actual colour. Second, she was told to pretend to be someone different. Different how? She was a small little girl, two years younger than the rest of the students too! She had been given suggestions, but they didn't suit her, so she made one up. Until she graduated, she'd pretend to be a boy.

A stupid, goofy, boy.

It really wasn't much of a change really, just less hyper and a bit more stupid. Honest.

Thankfully, both would be easy. She didn't know anyone in her class and most people in the Village didn't really know if she was a boy or girl to begin with because she preferred to keep her hair short. Well, now it was even shorter and a bit spikier. Since she was also just a kid, she didn't have to work on faking a deeper voice quite yet either. Also, the fact that she was going to pretend to be stupid and goofy would just add reason as to why she never took her mirrored goggles off in public. Something about sensitive eyes would be more than enough to get people off her back.

The new Academy Teacher however, knew she was up to something. He'd given her odd looks every time she walked into the boys bathroom, and he smirked a little every now and then when he called out her name as well. The scar on his face was kinda funny too.

Seriously, how does one get a scar like that and keep their nose?

Naruto's thoughts totally went on a tangent as she continued to stare off in space, maybe she could convince Sasuke to join her in her mission to screw with people's heads? Imagining Sasuke as a boy and having a bunch of girly girls squealing after _him_ caused the red-head to snort back some laughter.

The consequence of that was having a piece of chalk ding off her forehead, just above her goggles.

"Uzumaki! Pay attention in class!" The silver-haired Chuunin called out.

"Hai hai!" She called out lazily and dropped her chin onto her crossed hands, ignoring Mizuki for all she was worth.

"Of all the..." Mizuki mumbled under his breath and went back to this history lesson.

All in all?

The Academy was a lot more boring than Naruto Uzumaki would have ever dreamed of. Why was she so happy to be here again? Oh well.

Naruto only half paid attention as Mizuki droned on and on about the history of Elemental Nations, mainly the Country of Fire. About an hour later they were quizzed on what they had been told, Naruto purposely trying to work towards a barely passing grade. She frowned at her paper a few times but otherwise made her way through it as if nothing was wrong. An odd thought hitched its way through her mind, wondering why exactly her paper sure seemed shiny compared to everyone else.

One of the last several to hand her papers in, she slipped it into the middle of the pile instead of directly on top and went about the rest of day half paying attention.

At the end of the school day Naruto went off to find her best friend, Sasuke, and get her involved in the biggest and longest prank Konoha had ever seen in almost a decade. Sasuke at first balked as a five year old girl would, but then blinked owlishly at her red-headed friend as she finally started to think about it.

* * *

_Sing a Song  
__of Six-Pence  
__Wrapped up in a Lie_

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha however had spent the majority of her day in her room, organizing her room for the third time in a week. She always found something she didn't like and wanted to change it around, all in all, she was a bit of a picky little girl, what other child her age liked to eat a tomato as it was? Back to the real reason she was moving her room around was that she was utterly bored. The biggest part of her boredom was that her older brother wouldn't help her out with her training so she'd be ready for when she went to the Academy in a couple years. Another good part of the reason that she was bored was that her only friend Naruto was hardly ever around anymore.

Sure it'd been only a few days since she was told that her friend was getting to goto the Academy early, but that was beside the point! Nothing to do, nowhere to really go unless it was by herself...Boredom, boredom, boredom. It was enough to make a little girl go crazy. Well, that and a lack of tomatoes.

It would only be five minutes until the Academy got out for the day. Five more minutes to wait.

"To heck with this." The little girl mumbled and pushed herself away from the bookshelf she was organizing and looked almost disinterestedly at the TV she had in her room. Finally she looked at the little dinosaur on her bed. "Come on Rawr; let's go find Naru-chan." She snatched up the stuffed animal and a couple of stuffed shuriken and fled from her room.

She was out the door less than five minutes later and she had found Naruto looking for her on the streets. Of course, she was still carrying Rawr the entire time, the shuriken stuff in one of the pockets of her white shorts. With a wave, she called out. "Naru-chaaaafff..." she was cut off by the sudden hand covering her mouth.

"Sshhhh!" Naruto squeaked loudly. "Don't call me that."

Sasuke just stared at her friend before biting the palm of the other girl's hand so she'd move it with a screech. "Why not?"

"I'm on mission from the Old Man." Naruto whispered boredom from the Academy forgotten and replaced with excitement. "See; see...I told you how I gotta wear these awesome goggles all the time now, right? Right?"

Sasuke stared for a moment and hooked her arm into Naruto's and continued to walk down the streets, stuffing Rawr into Naruto's free hand as well. "So?"

"So, I came up with an awesome plan so no one realizes what I can do." Naruto proclaimed proudly, though in a low conspiratorial whisper. "And what better way to do that than to pretend to be a boy?"

"A boy? Why the heck would you want to be a boy? They're all icky." Sasuke frowned.

"Cause no one'll expect it. Old Man said it would count as a mission if I made it through the Academy without people finding out and stuff. It'll make me look awesome-ttebayo!" Naruto giggled for half a second and then caught herself. Boys don't giggle, right?

"I guess so. That's like five years pretending to be a boy though. You even get to graduate when you're ten that way. Lucky." Sasuke pouted a little, running her free hand through her raven coloured hair.

"Well, you should do it too." Naruto nodded vehemently. "I can convince the Old Man easy and we could get paid for it."

"Paid? Why would we get paid?"

"Think about it. You're smarter than me."

"Of course I am. I'm a great Uchiha...or so everyone says."

"Exactly!"

"So...why would we get paid again?"

"Uhh..."

"You forgot why? Naruto!"

"I'm thinking! I'm thinking! Jeeze."

A moment later from Sasuke as they rounded a corner towards Ichiraku's. "Well?"

"Uhm. Something about undercover rec...rec...a big word that means studying, yeah!" Naruto exclaimed as they sat down.

"Reconnaissance, Naruto dear." Ayame said from across the counter. "Academy out for the day?"

"Thanks Ayame-neesan, and yep. It's so boring. Mizuki-sensei kept rambling on about _History_." Naruto grumbled the last word like it was a taboo. "So, anyway. Sasuke. You should do it too. It was also to g-g-gu..."

"Gauge?"

"Yeah! I hate big words. Anyway, that to the Sensei's. See if I can fool them and stuff. If I pretend to be a stupid, goofy, silly, smelly boy and pull it off while at school, the Old Man said it would count as a ranked mission."

"Oh? And how are you doing so far?" Ayame asked, cutting in before Sasuke. "And what can I get the two of you?"

Naruto frowned at the first question, answering the second without paying much attention with her usual order of Miso-ramen with some pork cutlets. "I think Iruka-sensei knows something. He's always looking at me funny whenever I goto the bathroom on the boys side." Ayame herself was giggling at that.

"You really go in there too?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that, quite a feat for a kid. "Can I get some Tomato Ramen?"

"Of course." Ayame said with a nod, turning to start making the bowls.

"No line-up." Naruto said as if that explained everything.

She got nods of understanding, so apparently it did.

Naruto continued on, "So, we should convince Mr. F, your niisan, and mom that you should totally do it too. Like training or something."

"You think Daddy will go for it?"

"It's taking the i-i-ini..." she frowned again.

"Initiative." Ayame again over her shoulder.

"Yeah. Besides!" Naruto half cheered. "If we can pull it off, we don't hafta deal with a bunch of bad things later on in life...or so I was told. Jiji never really explained that part much..." And then she trailed off into a frown, before a smile came back to her face. "And, and, it shows teamwork-ttebayo!"

A moment later, Ayame served the girls their ramen and then she took Rawr from Naruto so she could eat and not make a mess. Sasuke was slowly eating her own food while Naruto ate at her own rapid pace, all while shifting her head back and forth, as if she was waiting for something to happen. She finally did calm down halfway through her bowl and that's when Sasuke asked her next question.

"How's school?"

"Outside of the first day? It's been really, really boring." Naruto sighed between bites. "Jiji got me in, but apparently my catra..."

"Chakra, Naruto."

"Thanks Ayame-nee." Naruto pouted for a moment at the correction. "But I gotta say it that way so people think I'm dumb." She paused, taking a few more slurps of her Ramen. "My control is really, really bad. Like, the worst ever, y'know?"

"There's a test to get into the Academy? Aniki never told me that."

"Well, they all tested us on _Bunshin no Jutsu_ and my clones really, really suck."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, It was all sickly, and white, and fell over, and stuff. I even had to kick it to make it disappear! Mou...It kinda hurt my toe 'cause I kicked it in the chin."

That last comment made Ayame pause and look very carefully at the little girl. A clone from the _Bunshin no Jutsu_ sure wasn't supposed to be solid in the slightest. Maybe Naruto was just joking around when it came to something like that. Maybe it was best to ignore it? But what if this detail was really important? Ayame thought about it for a moment, her eyes narrowed as she turned back to her duties, cleaning a little while she let her body move on automatic. By the sounds of things, it was more than likely that Naruto was overloading the jutsu with too much chakra, but to have that much chakra at that age? It was more impressive than some of the super-geniuses that the village produced. Iruka probably recognized the signs and he was probably playing along with Naruto's plan to be dumb so he wouldn't correct her on it either.

To use a well-known Nara saying; this was troublesome.

'_Should I help?_' Ayame mused to herself before looking back at the two children.

Sasuke just stared again, frowning at her red-headed friend. "Stupid. Regular clones can't be touched, they aren't even there!"

"Well, mine are-ttebayo! I'll prove it!" Naruto shouted, hopping off her stool and taking a few steps back before going through the hand signs. _Ram, Snake, Tiger._ Naruto started gathering chakra and called out "_Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

To prove her point, the clone did appear, but it seemed faded, whited out even. It was rubbery looking, and could barely stand, in fact a couple seconds later it flopped over on its face on the street. "Told ya." Naruto grumbled, dropping her hands and looking at the clone with a sigh. "The worst part is, every time I do this, my vision gets all funny until it dispels too."

Sasuke almost gaped, but she kept her opinions in check as she hopped off the chair, leaning down and actually poking the clone in the cheek a couple times. There was a bit of substance to the clone, she could actually feel it, and she knew that wasn't possible. With a grimace, she put the clone out of its misery with a stamp of her foot on the back of its neck. "Creepy. Maybe you could try learning a different Bunshinjutsu?"

"You mean there's more types?"

"Of course, dummy. Aniki uses one called _Karasu Bunshin no Jutsu_."

"Itachi-niisan uses that? So does Weasel-niisan!"

Ayame grimaced a little, there went that secret... "I'm sure a lot of Ninja use that kind of technique, Naruto." She had to cut off that line of thought pretty quickly.

"I guess so. Maybe I can learn it. Hmmm..." she trailed off in thought and then pulled out a little frog wallet, pulling out the scraps of money for her food. "Gotta go, need to train! See you later Sasuke. Remember to ask Mr. F!" With that, the girl ran off towards her home, leaving the other two girls sitting there.

Sasuke herself let out a sigh, looking down at one of the plush shuriken sticking out of her pockets. "She's always busy now. It's just not any fun."

"I know." The eleven year old smiled at the five year old from across the counter. "You'll be in the Academy in a couple years and you'll be like that too. Maybe you should go practice on your training too?" She leaned closer and whispered softly. "You might want to take her up on that idea too. Kunoichi training is supposed to be very boring. Flower arrangements and things like that."

"Where did you hear that?" Sasuke frowned, the thought of arranging flowers was kinda boring.

"Customers like to talk a lot, Sasuke-chan. Now you go on...Naruto paid for your meal it seems."

"Oooh. Sometimes she makes me so mad!" The raven haired girl grumbled and pulled out her own money, dropping it on the counter to pay for both bowls. "That'll pay for the next two then. See if she tries to pull one over on me. Bye Ayame-san!" she dropped off the stool, reaching up to grab Rawr and skipped off to head home.

"Children." Ayame mused with a half giggle. "Maybe I should bring that up to Hokage-sama...help Naruto with her clones..." she trailed off, musing as she went back to cleaning, intent on getting ready for the supper rush.

* * *

_Beat me down  
__Use that fist there  
__Go down on me and  
__Hold me here_

* * *

Sasuke looked across the table at her family, a her face showing no emotion as she slowly worked her way through the meal while saving her tomato for last. "Mother, Father, I was asked to do something today." The raven haired girl murmured softly as she finally looked around the dining room at her parents. "Naruto wanted me to do something and she told me to ask first."

"Oh, and what's that dear?" Mikoto asked gently, smiling at her daughter.

"She wants me to join in on what she's doing." Sasuke started to blush a little as she looked at her parents. "She's going through school, pretending to be a boy so she doesn't go through some classes."

"Flower arrangement and that kind of stuff?" Fugaku snorted. "I think it's a waste of time myself."

"It's useful to know, dear. You never know when you need to go undercover for that kind of situation.

"Maybe...but I don't like the idea of it." Sasuke put in. "I don't want to pretend to be a girly-girl. I want to be a proper Shinobi...and well, I know they don't usually place teams together like that." Sasuke looked down, pushing her tomato around on her plate.

"Dear, Naruto started two years early. You won't be ending up on her team like this." Mikoto spoke gently again.

"I know, but, but there's always a chance right? They don't put girls together on a team like that all that often...and if we pretend like this, there's a chance we might end up on a team." Sasuke's voice was weak but hopeful.

"Alright then." Fugaku said, his face going firm as he nodded to his own thoughts. "You will use these next two years to practice to goto the Academy as a boy. If we do not find your acting to be suitably, you will enter as your proper gender. The Hokage will also be informed of your intentions and reasons why. Is that understood?"

"Hai!" Sasuke chirped and ate her tomato suddenly. "I'm going to go see if Aniki can help. Thanks Father! Mother!" Sasuke bolted from the table cheerfully leaving the two adults to sit together and look at each other in contemplation.

"Dear...maybe we should..." Mikoto said softly, not to be overheard.

"It all will end tomorrow." Fugaku said firmly. "I was mistaken. We all were. What did was wrong, and we need to fix it. The Uchiha will stand firm as a loyal clan to Konoha."

"Thank you dear." Mikoto said with tears in her eyes.

* * *

_shooting blindly  
__screams of terror  
__struggling to understand  
__that person in the mirror_

* * *

"Weasel, I am sending you and your newly formed squad on an A rank Mission to find my wayward student, Jiraiya and bring him back here. Your Team Leader will be Aiba, and you will be accompanied by Tenzo and Neko." Hiruzen spoke from his desk, handing the young boy a scroll. "Your team will be meeting you at the gate in half an hour. Any questions?"

"Hai, sir." Weasel spoke softly. "Why not send a regular squad?"

"Jiraiya will avoid a regular team when he finds them coming. He knows an ANBU team being sent will show that I want his attention."

"And my usual charge?"

"Is being watched over by your former squad at most of the time. Kakashi has failed her most recent team, so whenever the child is not at the Academy or at her favorite place to eat, he will be silently watching over her. Though, normally this duty would be shared with Neko, there is a reason why she is being sent."

"Jiraiya knows whom she is?"

"Hai. She also has some additional information that will, with what you know, convince my wayward student to come back a bit more often, and for more than just reports."

"Sir."

"Dismissed."

"Sir."

Weasel disappeared from the office within a murder of crows and made his way to gather up the rest of his gear. As it was, he was early to the gates and ended up waiting a few minutes before the rest of his squad appeared. Aiba was also waiting, but Weasel spoke not to the man, for he only knew him by rumour and reputation. Next both Tenzo and Neko showed up at similar times.

"Alright. Is everyone ready?" Aiba's voice was a bit on the enthusiastic side while the other three ANBU nodded. "Excellent. Is there anything anyone would like to say before we go?"

"No sir." Weasel said, just barely loud enough to be heard.

"Ah, Weasel-kun. Your Flames of Youth seem to be lacking. Be more cheerful!" Aiba exclaimed causing the teen to shudder slightly. "Now, let us be off!"

The three nodded, exchanging glances at each other and shaking their heads. Over the course of their trip to their first stop, they all get to know each other. Itachi is the quiet one of the group, which is understandable in that he is the youngest. Aiba ends up being the loudest and least ANBU like of the four of them, going on and on about Youth and it's fires, or some such nonsense. Neko keeps a little to herself, but she asks Itachi about their charge every so often and Tenzo ends up showing off some of his abilities after Neko started to complain about sleeping on the ground with the bugs.

Over the course of a month or so, they keep finding leads that eventually had them stopping in Tanzaku Town during a festival in the beginning of November. It takes a couple days within the town to find Jiraiya, but eventually they find him, waiting for the four of them on a bench in the middle of the town eating a stick of Dango. They weren't wearing their masks and were under minor genjutsu's that Itachi had used to allow their faces to be slightly mundane and easily forgotten.

"At least you all had the good sense to keep your masks off in public like this." Jiraiya grumbled to himself. "Now, what the hell do you four want? I'm after some important information here."

"Jiraiya-sama." Weasel, one Itachi Uchiha spoke first. "Hokage-sama needs you to come back as soon as possible."

"He couldn't've just waited? What's so important that he couldn't just send me a messenger bird?" Jiraiya asked impatiently.

"It's about Naruto Uzumaki." Itachi continued quietly, watching Neko, or Yuugao Uzuki stiff out of the corner of his eye. "Here." The young Uchiha pulled out a picture rolled up from one of his pockets and handed it over to the white-haired Sage of the Toads.

Jiraiya took one look at the picture, his eyes narrowing at the ANBU squad and then back at the four of them before swearing under his breath. "This better not be some kind of sick joke."

Yuugao stepped up at that point and shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Jiraiya-sama."

"You. What the hell are you even doing here?" He pointed at the woman. "Shouldn't you be looking after your niece?"

The purple haired woman scowled at that. "The Council has locked me out of seeing or taking care of her. I am a Ninja. She is still a civilian at this point. So she falls under their jurisdiction."

Jiraiya scowled at that. "Damnedable. This is just perfect." Jiraiya swore again and finished off his Dango and tossed the stick into the trash. "Oh well. I suppose I can't use my cover as an author anymore in this town anymore anyway." The man sighed a little, hating all this serious business, preferring to slack off and be perverted author.

"What have you found, sir?" Tenzo asked quietly, since he kept his name quiet, and no one really knew him outside of ANBU, no one could tell his real name.

"It would seem my old team mate, Orochimaru has currently joined up with a mercenary organization going by the name Akatsuki." Jiraiya grumbled. "The rumours are that they're all Ninja of S-class rank that'll do any job for the proper amount of pay. I don't know any of the members outside of Orochi."

"If he's joined, it doesn't sound like it would be any good." Aiba, one Maito Gai, exclaimed. "How very unyouthful."

Jiraiya just looked at the man as if he was crazy for a moment before shaking his head. "Come on. If I have to get back to the village, we might as well get it over and done with. I just need to make a couple stops on the way and you all can keep me company. You've all got a civilian set-up, right?"

The four of them nodded and Jiraiya just sighed. He really wanted to go check out the hot springs tomorrow too. Oh well, at least it wouldn't take too long to get back to Konoha, clear some things up, and get back out of the village again. Maybe he'd even go see Tsunade and her little apprentice Shizune.

Eventually, or rather over the course of a week, the five members of Konoha made it back to their village. For the most part, Jiraiya was annoyed at with Aiba, due to the man's constant proclamations about Youth and other such nonsense. About a day before they had reached Konoha, he had overheard a conversation between Tenzo and Neko talking about the very subject. It was summarily dropped when Aiba was nearby, but once again, he had gone on ahead so the two could whisper to each other about it just before they got to the gates.

"How does Kakashi-sempai put up with that?" Neko asked.

"It seems they broke up, actually." Tenzo said with a shrug.

"Really? I'm not surprised she broke up with him." Neko responded.

"Actually, Aiba broke up with her." Tenzo snickered softly. "It was the day before she left for Snow. Something about how cool and hip she was. Really it was because of something else."

"Seriously?" Neko blinked before her mask.

"Oh yeah, she was in the middle of buying one of Jiraiya-sama's books when he broke up her. Kakashi-sempai was pissed." Tenzo shivered at the memory of the Kunoichi going on a rampage. "It was originally supposed to be a gag gift for Aiba, and he thought it was for herself."

"They broke up over a book? Really?" Neko shook her head.

"Yeah. Hear she's dating Anko now and she's reading the book she bought openly just to piss Aiba off." Tenzo nodded.

That was when Jiraiya finally butted into the conversation. "Which book, do you know?"

"That new one you came out with. It's a surprise best seller actually." Tenzo responded. "Icha Icha Paradise."

"Hah. I've been working on it for the past few years." Jiraiya grinned. "A Romantic Comedy for Adults. It's already selling better than my last book. I've actually been working on the second one too. Though, it's mainly for men." The old lecher grinned and then looked past the two to Weasel who had waved silently.

"The Village is just up ahead." The boy said in his usual monotone.

"Excellent. Let's get there so I can ditch you guys...cause no offense, but he bugs me." Jiraiya jerked his head in the direction of the village, where Aiba could be seen in the distance.

"He is a tad...overzealous, one might say." Weasel deadpanned.

The others tried to hold in their laughter at the youngest member making a joke. With the moment over with, they continued on their way to the Village, stopping just inside of the gates to listen in on the angry mob yelling at a child hanging from a rope.

"Mwuaha. That's right, I'm the greatest! Ever!" The voice yelled out, overcoming the angry shouts of the mob.

The four ANBU and one Toad Sage finally got a look around and watched as the person, a child really, finish painting a spot on the gates with bright orange. It also seemed like a good portion of the buildings around the gates were also the exact same neon color too.

The kid turned around, waving cheerily at the mob, grinning the entire time before speaking again. "That's right, you all heard me. I'm gonna be the best Shinobi ever!" The voice seemed like it was forced, a boy pretending to be older, much older, than he really was. "Remember for this is the time you first saw 'He Who Pranked Konoha!" With that, the little brat scrambled slightly up the rope, away from the guards that were coming from the top of the gates and threw himself into the air, landing on a nearby building and sprinting off, leading a band of civilians and ninja in a merry chase.

All while cackling madly.

Suffice to say, Jiraiya was thrown for a loop. He looked at Neko for a moment who seemed to be standing there, stunned, and then looked at Tenzo whom was shaking his head. Weasel was actually laughing, beating his fist into the ground and laughing and Jiraiya could have sworn he saw the white flash of teeth coming from behind Aiba's mask.

"Most excellent, it would seem our young compatriot has rediscovered the exuberance of youth! I however must be off to give my report to Hokage-sama!" With that, the strange ANBU hopped onto his hands and started to walk backwards to Hokage tower.

Weasel was laughing too hard at the paint to even care.

Finally Jiraiya managed to compose himself and he looked at Neko, then Tenzo, then finally Weasel who was starting to compose himself. He worked his jaw for a moment before the words finally came to him. "Why is my God-daughter pretending to be a boy and pranking the village? Also, where did she get those goggles?"

The three ANBU looked between themselves and Weasel spoke up in a low tone, finally back behind his emotionless mask. "Those would be the reasons Hokage-sama summoned you back. She's been pretending to do this since just before the latest term of the Academy began. She entered as a boy...and has managed to talk my little sister into doing the same." At the end of his statement, Weasel's voice had gone awry. "Both for safety reasons on how an assault can turn to something worse if they find out she was actually a girl, and because Kunoichi classes are boring. Or so I am told."

"Iris brought that up, no doubt." Jiraiya snorted. "How is she?"

"Ah, she retired the day Kakashi-senpai got back from Snow." Tenzo spoke. "Dolphin took a demotion since he felt it was his fault and is now a Chuunin, while Inu, or Kakashi, is now a Jounin, who recently failed his first Genin team."

"All of that because my niece nearly died after being beaten, stabbed, and her eyes slashed out." Neko spoke with a snarl. "They got rid of most of the people involved."

"Kakashi-senpai used her Chidori to execute a man at T&I." Weasel put in gently. "She's the one that killed most of them. Apparently it might have been an order from the council."

"You're not supposed to share that kind of information, Weasel." Jiraiya snorted.

"Hokage-sama is going to tell you anyway." The teen shrugged. "I'm just expediting the process. Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to go see my little sister." The boy used his _Karasu Shunshin_ to disappear in a murder of crows while the others watched.

"That boy has some pretty flashy techniques." Tenzo noted.

"Makes up for his lack of emotions." Neko retorted.

"Dunno. He was laughing pretty hard there." Jiraiya responded. "Anyway, I'm off to see Sensei. Neko, you come with me, Tenzo, you're dismissed."

"Hai." Both ANBU responded with Tenzo hopping away onto the rooftops while Neko walked quietly by the elusive spymaster's side.

A few minutes later in the Hokage's office, the two old men had their gazes locked, trying to stare each other into submission, the older of which was winning, albeit slowly. Finally the younger of the two let out a low huff of a sigh and sat down in the chair none to gently.

The older of the two, the Hokage, puffed from his pipe as his gaze softened a little. "Neko, why are you here?"

"Ah, Jiraiya-sama requested it, Hokage-sama." The woman spoke softly, having taken a small step forward.

"Indeed." The Hokage said with a wry half smile. "And why is that?" He directed that question to his wayward student.

"Confirmation." Jiraiya spoke after a full minute of silence. "I want to know what's going on."

"Ah, yes." The Hokage nodded "Late August there was a disturbance on a far side of the village that required ANBU attention. In the process of which, left Naruto unattended for several minutes as she was on her way to the Uchiha District. In that short amount of time, she was attacked." The Hokage pushed his chair back ever so slightly to open one of the drawers, pulling a brown manila folder and sliding it across the desk towards Jiraiya. "This is the list of injuries when the attack was stopped."

"Why are some of these underlined?" Jiraiya asked with a frown, half looking at the first page.

"Those were the injuries she healed before she even reached the hospital." Sarutobi said with a sigh. "Those are also the minor ones, Page two is the one you want to look at."

Jiraiya looked up at his sensei for a moment before looking down at the folder again. "Neko, have you seen this list?" He asked before actually flipping the page.

"No, Jiraiya-sama." Neko responded. "I was just told they were bad."

The white haired Toad Sage nodded, mainly to himself, then flipped over the page. His eyes widened at what he was looking at when he switched his gaze to the Hokage and then back to the paper before biting out a stream of curses that could get a regular man arrested for indecency.

"Calm down, Jiraiya!" Sarutobi barked out. "It's all been dealt with. In fact, it presents us with a rare opportunity."

"Sensei. You don't understand." Jiraiya retorted. "Do you understand what happened? Do you know what her eyes are?"

Sarutobi rubbed his chin, looking at Neko for a moment and then back to his student. "That's why I had you recalled, so you could explain it to me."

"This isn't something that can be explained really." Jiraiya sighed. "Have they deactivated?"

"Not once, from what she's told me. We talk every day." Sarutobi had a soft smile on his lips. "She tells me her how her day goes, what she's done, all that sort of thing. She keeps complaining that her eyes aren't back to normal everyday too."

"So it's been about a month and a half." Jiraiya sighed again, closing his eyes while thinking. "How's her chakra?"

"Absolutely miserable." Neko fielded that one.

"Agreed." Sarutobi snorted. "Iris told me that she couldn't even make two _Bunshin_ properly. They hurt her eyes to boot. That's something I don't understand really. Then again, I haven't actually watched her do the technique."

"Ah." Jiraiya nodded, stroking his chin. "Maybe she's overpowering them?"

"How do you think that, Jiraiya-sama?" Neko frowned behind her mask.

"Well, look at it this way. She has a doujutsu, one I'm only passingly familiar with, and even then, only barely. However, I do know a few things about it...and if her eyes are hurting when doing a _Bunshinjutsu_, it might be because she's overpowering it and its flubbing up the actual Jutsu."

"She's also turning five in a couple days." Sarutobi pointed out.

"What are they teaching in the Academy these days anyway?" Neko asked softly. "Honestly, they should be doing less History lessons and more on Chakra control instead of relying on the students families to teach those kinds of things."

"I'm in agreement with that." Jiraiya grinned. "History classes were boring, and they go over them so many times."

"True enough." Sarutobi nodded in agreement once again as he took a small puff on his pipe. "When you look at it this way, look how many 'Dead Last' students have become some of the best of our village. Aiba is one of our best ANBU, you're one of the best in the village as a whole." Sarutobi shrugged slightly. "The worst part is that, even though it is a Ninja Academy, the students are still technically civilians, even the clan members."

"You're kidding me, right?" Jiraiya stared for a moment.

"Not in the slightest." Sarutobi sighed. "Can't do much about it, but the truth is that we haven't seen many teams graduate the last couple of years either, but besides that, t's part of the reason we're so popular for missions despite charging slightly more." Sarutobi snorted at that and shook his head.

"I'm tempted to just kidnap the little brat and show her the ropes." Jiraiya laughed at that. "Neko, don't glare at me like that, I can feel it from under your mask."

"Hmph. Well, if you need anything else, Hokage-sama?" Neko turned away, ignoring Jiraiya.

"I'm assuming Naruto's been caught by now. If not, join the chase and drag her here."

"Hai." Neko nodded and disappeared into a puff of smoke.

"Alright, what all does Naruto know?" Jiraiya finally asked once they were alone.

"Absolutely nothing. I've not told her a thing about her burden, her parents, anything." Sarutobi grimaced slightly at that. "Nevertheless, she's staying in her Father's home now, and I know she knows who her Aunt is."

"Great, just great..." Jiraiya sighed and settled into the chair a little more. "Today is gonna be long."

The two of them shared a look and got to finally talking about various things that concerned the village, it's security, and other high class secrets that weren't meant for prying ears.

* * *

_Bitter, Broken,  
__Empty, Torn,  
__Simply Something, yet  
__I'm nothing but a  
__Victim anymore..._

* * *

The month had passed by slowly, and some might even say painfully. Naruto's Fifth Birthday passed on October Tenth with less hassle than the previous years since no one could find the _brat_. There were several quiet executions one messy one right near the center of the village that was made to look like a drunken brawl since those happened on occasion on Festival Night. All in all, it was a rather quiet affair when compared to the two years previously, and that threw Sarutobi on the edge. He wanted to make sure Naruto was okay, and she was constantly watched in open company by a masked Kakashi who took up her Inu-neesan mantle just to spend the day with the brat. Iris also showed up for a few hours to give Naruto a treat and so did Dolphin-niisan and Weasel-niisan. With so much open ANBU support, no one even attempted to get near her.

Due to the blatant openness of her guard on her own birthday, there were complaints from the Council. Massive complaints that those ANBU could have been used for something important in some way or form, of course, Sarutobi kept quiet on the fact that only Weasel was still actually an active member of ANBU. They demanded that since Naruto was in the Academy, she no longer warranted an ANBU escort, so Sarutobi put his foot down on something and declared that if anyone within the village attacked Naruto at any time, the person who did the attack would have their lives forfeit, along with their family and all of their belongings would goto Naruto.

The outrage just made Sarutobi smile around his pipe as he blew a circle of smoke into the air as he put his foot down after a full minute of them yelling, reminding them once again that he was their leader with a shot of his killing intent washing over them and shutting them up.

That was all in the beginning of the day, and it set off a chain of events that would be far reaching, and most certainly be dire for some of the citizens of Konoha, and even the rest of the Elemental Countries. Indeed, that's how Sarutobi's morning went.

Naruto's morning, however, was of the usual sort. The little girl, pretending to be a boy for the thrill of getting away with it, was in her morning ritual. She had already cleaned up, she had finished breakfast, and she was leaving on time to get a little bit of exercise in. Naruto had found a private area to do some exercise, having almost completely forgotten the events of near on two months ago. Her childish mind more wrapped around the concept of becoming a ninja that 'Old Man Hokage' would be proud of. She hadn't noticed that she had come across a training ground that wasn't used all that often. She hadn't noticed that she was being watched by one of the more undesirable people within Konoha. She, most of all, hadn't noticed that she really wasn't close to her new home and that she was far from the attentions of anyone.

Unknowingly, she was also alone while Sarutobi was in the very self-same meeting going over her new protections and lack thereof.

She also, sadly, didn't notice when she was snuck up upon.

Naruto finally noticed, however, when suddenly she had a sense of vertigo. She fought the sudden dizziness as she fell, moving into a roll and away from her assailant.

"Demon brat." The one behind her whispered in a low growl.

Naruto came up, fidgeting as her hand grasped the small kunai that Weasel-niisan had given her the night before as she turned to look at the one that had hit her from behind. The back of her head still smarting from the blow. The man was obviously a civilian, otherwise she would have likely been dead from that blow. It was clumsy, but still effective in that it disoriented the five year old child. The man was dressed slovenly, hair hanging around his pallid face and sunken eyes. Unshaven and unkempt, yet the madman did not smell and Naruto couldn't comprehend why. The clothing he wore should have given Naruto a scent, a clue that some bastard was sneaking up behind her in another attempt on her short life.

"What do you want?" Naruto finally found her voice, barely able to keep it in her boyish disguise.

The man poised himself for a lunge as he snarled out. "Your death, Demon." The man was still crouched low as he held out large knife, waving it menacingly, trying to put fear into Naruto and it was starting to show as the man finally did lunge, knife lashing out.

Naruto back pedaled at the movement, eyes widening behind her goggles as she knife flickered against her chin, leaving a line of fire against her face that quickly disappeared, the blood only seeping momentarily before the cut healed itself, a solitary drop of blood dripping down from her chin. The sensation was annoying at first, but Naruto ignored it as she lifted the kunai up in a way she was shown by her former guardians. "Y-you stay away from me!" she half shouted, still trembling a little, trying not to give into the fear of this much older man.

"Oh no, _Demon_." The man spat and leered at the child in such a sickening way that Naruto almost turned green in disgust. "I paid good money to have you, and I'll be taking it out of your hide." Her licked the blood off his knife and it was starting to creep Naruto out. "Oh yes, you'll be my little puppet for a while to come." The man let out a perverse chuckle as he lunged again, still too slow to catch Naruto.

The little girl started to shudder and jumped backwards, making sure to stay on her feet as she edged her way back to the tree line, away from the open area. She could run away from ANBU (even if they weren't really trying) she could run away from full-fledged ninja (of course those were just graduates) and get away with it. Some sick fuck of a civilian was not going to catch her. "Get the fuck away from me!" Naruto screeched, suddenly wishing she had some of the shuriken, even blunted ones from the Academy would be useful right now. '_Kuso...I can either throw the kunai and try to run away...or...Oh Kami, I don't know..._' Naruto was starting to get flustered and her mind broke as she bolted after inching her way back towards the trees a bit more.

The man reacted almost as fast she did, but she had the cover of the trees, but she was still far away enough that her shouts and screams for help wouldn't be useful, so she didn't bother, intent on saving her air to just run and run and run.

"Get back here you little demon!" The voice snarled from behind her, as the man gained ground on her. At the closing distance, Naruto knew she wouldn't be able to get away, so she'd have to hide, but he'd be able to see any attempt at that because of her clothing. She knew she'd have to get rid of the small orange jacket that stood out for a reason, a sign that she could be seen within the village and be avoided and easily watched, but it was a gift and she really didn't want this bastard to ruin it. "You're mine!" She could hear him, feeling him lunge as she dove out of the way, ignoring the line of fire on her back shoulder where he had managed to cut her for a second time with the long knife.

"Hell no, you loser!" Naruto howled back, feeling the line of blood slowly heal and seep into her clothing as she unzipped the front of it as she ran, barely able to it unzip the front of it and pull one arm off before having to lunge out of the way again. She knew she was starting to lose her straight line and was starting to curve backwards, but she didn't just care. One arm was out of the jacket as she felt another sharp pain in her back, this time it was staying. Every time she pumped her arm as she ran, she could feel her skin tearing apart as the blood started to pool out, thankfully it was on the arm she had already taken out of the jacket. Was it a kunai? Another knife? There was no way in hell she was stopping despite the pain. She had to put her kunai into her little makeshift holster to do what she had to next.

Reaching back, she cut her fingers on the shuriken as she ripped it out. Recognizing it as something low grade that Genin usually used as she threw it back behind her violently, just hoping to distract her pursuer, but it whistled away and sunk into a nearby tree. Swearing as she continued to bleed, not really caring still as it was barely affecting her, but the sudden shift in Naruto's body caused her to almost trip over the roots of a tree, causing the girl to stumble while pulling the jacket off fully.

"You're mine!" The man snarled again, just barely missing as Naruto took a rolling dive out of the way, coming to her knees as she stood carefully, balling up her jacket a little to make it easier to throw. Naruto could see the hunger and greed in his eyes, it causing her to nearly gag on the nausea that built itself in her stomach. Sweat was rolling down her chin, mixing with the somewhat dried blood on her chin and causing the nearly closed wound to sting enough to remind her to get away instead of staring at her pursuer.

'_I will not be a victim, I will not be a victim, I will not be a victim, I will not be a victim...' _Naruto continued to chant into her own head as she suddenly jumped to her feet and threw her jacket right into the face of the man as he got close enough. It wasn't much, but it was enough to distract the man, clawing the jacket out of the way as she lunged at him with a feral cry. The kunai was gripped in her hands tightly as she brought it down on the man's leg with all the force she could muster. "Fuck you!" she screeched as she pulled the kunai out and stabbed the man in the leg even deeper.

The sideswipe from the man's fist caught her unawares as she was bashed in the head, knocked from her feet and sent careening into a tree. The man threw the jacket away in disgust and looked down at the kunai before ripping it out of his leg, howling in pain before stumbling down to one knee. "You little demon brat! I'm going to fucking kill you and rape your corpse!"

Naruto shivered at the words, trying and failing to push herself to her feet. Her entire body hurt, wracked in minor pains that had added up. Sure the cuts had healed, but her muscles ached from running, panting for air, exhilaration, and adrenaline. It had taken a toll on the small girl's body. '_I won't give up, I won't give up, I won't give up, I won't give up, I won't give up...' _She chanted to herself over and over, trembling as she bit her bottom lip, causing to break, bleed, and heal in a matter of a single second. Naruto had finally pushed herself back against a tree, facing the bastard that was still on one knee, glaring at her.

"You're mine, boy." He suddenly snarled causing Naruto's eyes to go wide, "I paid for you, and you're mine!" foam was starting to froth at his mouth. He had forced himself to his feet, blood seeping from the wound in his leg. Naruto couldn't force herself to move as the man came closer. Her assailant gripped the kunai in a reverse grip as he dragged himself closer, raising it above his head, he brought it down before the little girl could react.

As the tip of the kunai came down, Naruto shut her eyes behind her goggles. The sensation of the blade piercing the skin of her forehead was all she felt before everything seemed to wash away into nothingness, time seemed to freeze for the little Jinchuuriki and behind the darkness of her closed yes, everything faded to white...

* * *

_Can't wait to be set free  
__Away from this pain and misery  
__Far from this fear inside of me  
__Just so I can be set free  
__Away from all the misery  
__Gone what's inside of me_

* * *

Within a white room...

There was a little box.

Beneath the little box, was a small table.

Beside the small table was a regular sized chair.

Beyond the regular sized chair was a large door.

Upon the large door were miniscule words that seemed oddly innocent.

Those miniscule and innocent words flashed brightly and the box opened suddenly.

Out flowed energy from the box and the words upon the door suddenly became marred.

Someone materialized within the room within the chair once the energy from the box suddenly stopped..

A man sat there in that regular sized chair, looking intrigued at his newest surroundings and then down upon the box.

Upon the little box was a word, similar to that of the writing upon the door, and the man knew what those words had meant.

_Pandora._

This was one of her boxes. Everyone had a box within them somewhere. Hidden deep within their souls, locked away to not be opened.

The man laughed deeply as his blood red eyes took in the sight as he ran his hand through his orange hair before pushing back away from the chair and headed towards the door.

With a simple nod to himself, he slowly pushed the door open, it moving slowly and gently away to reveal a little girl with hair the color of his own eyes standing there. She was dressed like he was in a smaller version of his own suit, a mixture of black and red that matched the man's eyes and her hair.

She stood there, eyes closed until they finally slowly opened, staring up at the man beyond the precipice with purple ringed eyes. "H-help me..." she whispered in fear.

The man looked down in contempt, anger, and hatred for the most miniscule of seconds. He shouldn't be awake. He shouldn't be in this form. Most of all, _she_ shouldn't be here so young. An almost sneer crossed his lips before he smothered it and knelt down in front of the little girl. He took her chin within his hand and stared into her eyes. Blood-red slit eyes meeting purple and ringed ones.

"Please..." she trembled, not blinking, but tears had come. "Please help me..." she whispered even lower, almost begging for help.

There was a terse nod as he pulled back, not even speaking while the man stood. Finally, he put his hand on her shoulder and moved out of the room. "You know who I am." it wasn't a question.

She nodded, wiping the tears away with her free hand.

"Same my name." He commanded suddenly, both hands on her shoulders.

"Kyuubi no Youko."

He simply nodded and gave her a sudden shove away from the white room.

Everything swirled apart, the white fading away to darkness as the man that she had called the Demon Kitsune disappeared. Slowly bars formed in front of her very eyes, growing up beneath her feet and the rest of the darkness shifted away. Water that shivered at her toes started to materialize as the bars grew up higher. A solid floor appeared beneath her feet, walls started to grow closer with pipes lining the tops and bottoms, finally a ceiling appeared, doming upwards to reach the top of the bars, connecting together. A single piece of paper emerged from the pair of bars in the middle with a single kanji written in an almost crude fashion. _Seal_ was all it said. Nothing complex, just a single stated word on white paper that now contrasted the darker room that had faded away from the original simple white one.

Suddenly, a single slit blood red eye appeared from the darkness beyond the bars. Caged within was that man, now in his true form.

Once again, the little girl looked up, her purple ringed eyes looking up, almost pleading. "Please. Help me."

"**Done**." Was the simple word, booming throughout the domed area as red chakra surged forth from the bars. "**Kill any who would attempt to violate you, Naruto**."

It was not a request, it was a command in exchange for the power she had been temporarily bestowed. Little Naruto bowed at her waist while allowing the red chakra, infused with hate and anger, to envelop her. The tears in her eyes dried as she hardened her resolve. "I will not be a victim!" she declared suddenly, balling her fist.

Then she opened her eyes and saw the truth.

* * *

_Still...  
__You are desperation  
__I am desolation  
__We have no salvation_

* * *

"_Shinra Tensei_."

The words were snarled as Naruto snapped her eyes open as the kunai pressed into her forehead, breaking skin and leaving a drip of blood. The reaction from those words and her sudden flare of chakra, enveloping all around her was enough to cause the tree behind her to snap in half and was violently flung backwards. Being a tree within Konoha, it was rather large, but still it flew through the air, crashing into other trees and knocking several of them back and away.

The ground beneath her feet seemed to cave outwards in a growing circular motion just as suddenly, picking up the dust, fallen leaves and other things upon the ground, whipping it up into the air. It had less of a violent reaction as it was beneath her now floating feet.

In front of her, however, was what the words were directed at. A greasy and unkempt man with no scent. He had attempted to kill her, he had said he would rape her corpse. He had also thought she was a boy, which somehow made it feel all the worse to the young girl. Much like the tree behind her, he was picked up into the air and flung suddenly away from her person. Like a ragdoll, he was suddenly finding himself impacting against the bark of a different tree with the same violent and malevolent force. A sickening crack echoed throughout the area of destruction as the man's spine snapped under the pressure and sudden impact.

Naruto's kunai had also slammed into the tree, rebounding off and down to the ground as the ring was what had connected into a nearby tree, and thankfully hadn't been the blade which would've probably buried itself rather deeply.

Chakra ripped around Naruto's body as she finally stood up slowly, slowly slipping her goggles off of her face to hang down around her neck as she straightened herself. Walking with a purpose, she moved slightly to the side and picked up to the kunai that Weasel-niisan had given her before slowly she moved to the paralyzed man, looking up with blood dripping from his lips.

Before he could beg, his eyes filled with terror at those purple and ringed eyes, Naruto dropped to her knees and rammed the blade of the kunai straight through his forehead with all the strength she could muster. Aided by the violent red chakra it plunged past his skull straight into his brain. He gave one final twitch as he died, blood spurting out from his eyes mouth. "Fuck you." Naruto spat down in the man's dead and staring eye. "I will never be a victim, you asshole!"

With that, the chakra slowly slipped away, leaving the little girl to pant slightly before she moved to his feet and started dragging the corpse away, a streak of blood trailing through the leaves on the ground as she slowly made her way back to the majority of the village.

Just as she was within range of actual people, a Jounin with silver-hair appeared in front of her, starling the little ninja-hopeful. "Naruto." the person sounded oddly familiar and female. "You're supposed to be wearing your goggles."

"Shit." The little girl swore and dropped the foot she was using to drag the corpse and hastily pulled her goggles back on.

"Hm. What's this?" She peered down at the body, a look of indifference coming to the masked woman's features, using that pose as she frowned beneath her mask, wondering why the body didn't have its own scent. "Who's this, Naruto?" She asked while looking at the kunai imbedded right into the skull.

"Some fucker." The little girl swore again without even realizing it. She didn't know whom the Jounin was, but Old Man had promised her they were all trustworthy. "Said he bought me, was his, would rape my corpse." Naruto really was taking this in stride, all things considered. She was after all a five year old girl, and this had been the second attempt on her life now. She left out the 'boy part though, since that was Naruto's original plan, and if random creeps like this were thinking it, why was she to discourage?

"My my." The female Jounin said almost with disinterest and pulled out a small orange book. "Well, why don't we go see Hokage-sama then?"

"Sure." Naruto shrugged, biting the her bottom lip suddenly as she picked up the foot and dragged the corpse closer until she felt a sudden sense of vertigo and a change of scenery. "Huh?"

"Surely you didn't want to drag a corpse all the way to the tower?" The female Jounin asked, not even looking away from her book. Unbeknownst to Naruto, she was using it as a cover to go through things in her head. She had worn her mask the day before when she was out with the others on Naruto's birthday, so the little girl didn't know she was Inu-neesan. '_Damn. I think Hokage's in a meeting right now, isn't it?'_ Kakashi thought to herself.

"Guess not." Naruto intruded on Kakashi's thoughts and reached out to give the door in front of them a boot several times instead of knocking. On the third boot, it was enough to force the door open.

Kakashi was secretly amused that the ANBU watching didn't do a thing as Naruto dragged the corpse into the just finishing up Konoha Council Meeting.

"Hey. Old people!" Naruto shouted out, cutting off the Hokage's decree about anyone attacking Naruto would lose their lives. "Heya Jiji!" she said with a forced cheerfulness.

Now every single person in the room was looking at the girl as she continued into the room with a corpse, the movement finally taking a little bit of an effort in her body. Their views switched to Kakashi standing there nonchalant as she continued to read her little orange book.

Ignoring the corpse for a moment, Sarutobi dragged his hat over his eyes and let out a small groan before peeking out from underneath his hat and over at Naruto. "Naruto, I told you there were to be no interruptions."

"Hey. I've got a dead guy here." Naruto rebuffed. "One that attacked me, I might add!" she was suddenly very pale and weary looking.

Fugaku Uchiha cut in before anyone else could say anything, looking at the little girl and then the corpse for a moment. "Naruto-kun, why don't you tell us all what happened then."

"Mr. F?" Naruto blinked behind her goggles, tilting her head to the side, looking over at the Old Man and then back to Sasuke-chan's father before letting the foot drop to the ground and moved forward with a fidget. Suddenly she launched into the sordid details, embellishing very little in front of all the old people while remembering what Old Man had said about keeping some things secret. Thus she left all mention of a human looking Kyuubi, then as a giant red eye, and the technique she used, out. Just mentioning that she didn't know why the '...fucker jumped backwards and broke his back.' Finishing off that she was afraid he would keep trying, so she stabbed him in the face.

Behind her, Kakashi suddenly snapped her book closed and took over from there as the woman walked up and put her hand on Naruto's shoulder.

The looks amongst those within the room had gone from somewhat fearful of the little girl, to indignant at what she had said, to disgust that she was getting time to speak, to disgust at what she was saying, and then finally horrified that someone would do that to a little girl.

Even the ever stoic Danzo had a frown plastered on his face. Someone was operating in his village and he didn't know about it? There'd be hell to pay.

Sarutobi, however, was _pissed_. He was struggling to hold onto his temper as he suddenly stood, his chair scraping against the floor angrily. He strode over to Naruto and dropped to one knee in front of the little girl.

"Jiji!" Naruto suddenly wailed, starting to scream and cry as she clawed at Sarutobi's Hokage robes, tears leaking beneath the goggles and into fabric as the small girl lost all sense of composure. She cried, and screeched and wept. She was so afraid, so scared, she had felt so weak and alone. The comforting hand of the old man whom she looked up to made it worse and she let it all out in front of every single person within the room.

Everyone else slowly stood and filed their way out of the room leaving a small child crying her soul out. Kakashi was the last remaining person before she reached down, plucking the kunai deftly from the man's skull all while ignoring the squirt of blood. She handed it over to Sarutobi's waiting hand before hefting up the corpse and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

It wasn't much later when Naruto finally slipped unconscious, the adrenaline having fully left the weeping child as she passed out, still clinging to Sarutobi's Hokage Robes. The old man, pulled the goggles gently from the girl's face, wiping her eyes clear from the tears as she gently dozed, a clear contrast to what had been just scant moments before. "Let's get you home Naruto."

Little did the wizened God of Shinobi know, this was the third alteration of young Naruto's destiny, and the consequences would, unknowingly, be dire.

* * *

_Pain is a Truth  
__Truths become Lies  
__Pain is a Fulfillment  
__Fulfillments end up Empty_


	3. Weakness and Anger

Naruto looked dejectedly at the Academy from across the street, letting out a sigh. It'd already been a month since the beginning of the new year and it was still bothering her. Finally she ran her fingers through her hair before finally making her way across the street. After the end of the last year, she really didn't want to come back. It was an accident really, failing the final which completely threw her grades into the gutter. So here she was again, repeating her second year, it wouldn't be too bad really, she didn't really get along with any of her classmates from the last two years since they were mainly civilians and for some reason, civilians just couldn't stand her. Well there was one positive in failing and that was that she actually got along with a couple of the students that were a year older than her. Neji was in the class and she always got along with the Hyuuga clan, even if some of them were a bit stuck up. Another one of the students she enjoyed hanging around with was an orphan like she was, a girl that simply went by the name TenTen.

Admittedly, it was her own fault for being lost in her thoughts when she walked into someone from behind causing her to stumble and nearly fall to the ground. "Oh, so sorry."

"Watch it next time then." A familiar voice responded with a grumble.

She had walked right into Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto stifled a grin, she hadn't planned on starting this portion of her act so soon, but it would probably work great in front of all the other students, especially since she was one of the 'Dead Lasts' in the Academy. "Yeah yeah...teme." she mumbled the last part under her breath.

Sasuke hid a smirk of her own, knowing full well the mirth in the eyes of her friend, even if they were hidden behind the same pair of goggles she had worn the past couple of years. They'd been planning this for years now, all the while working on helping each other's skills. "Good then. See you later, dobe." Sasuke worked to hold back a giggle and turned, walking off. However, she was inwardly groaning that they weren't in the same class. Part of her hoped that Naruto would fail a second time so they could sit next to each other, but another part of her hoped her friend would pass as soon as she could, since that's what she always wanted.

Naruto herself let out a low growl and stalked off in pretend annoyance. '_How dare she come up with a better nickname than me. I'll get you yet Sasuke-chan-ttebayo!'_

It took her the rest of the day, but Naruto got her petty revenge with some glue, dried yellow paint chips, some chicken feathers, and an empty pocky box. Suffice to say, '_The Incident_' wasn't talked about, but remembered with a shudder from then on.

At the end of the day, the two got into a fight in front of everyone at school and Naruto barely managed to win due to the fact that she had more schooling and knowledge. Of course, that was just for show, even if it seemed pretty pathetic that a student with three years of school managed to barely edge out a win against a student on their first day. The truth was that Naruto had managed to win, rather handily, but was holding back enough to look like she, or rather he, was about to lose to the youngest Uchiha.

There was a twofold reason for it. To make Sasuke look impressive and to make Naruto look like a failure. She had yet to tell Sasuke about her _Master Plan_ since she had just come up with it the day before in an epiphany while eating ramen. She had failed last year, totally on accident of course, yet at the same time there was always a chance that she wouldn't make it through for all of the years without failing again. Some of the teachers at the academy seemed to have it out for her. Probably because of the pranks that were being pulled, but still. Why would those really matter? She hadn't pranked a single teacher, she knew better than that.

Something was off at the Academy, Naruto Uzumaki just didn't know it yet. Of course, she also didn't care.

It also was odd that despite having failed, she still managed to have Iruka-sensei as her main sensei when it came to in classroom stuff. After being attacked back in her first year, the red head was vastly paranoid when dealing with people that she didn't know outright and trust on an instinctive level. She hadn't seen or heard from the Kyuubi in that meantime either, even when she went calling for it mentally. It was as if a wall was keeping her out and it was highly annoying.

She did, however, manage to gain some insight on that one technique she did to shove that freaky scentless bastard. It came to her in a flash of insight, even if the name was overly pretentious and showy. She had managed to do it on a smaller scale with quite some practice so it pushed from only certain areas instead of a large sphere around her entire body. She also noted there was a sort of cool down period upon using it before she could use it again. When she first started training back in her first year, she had started with half a minute, now she had gotten it down to fifteen seconds after an almost constant daily use for the past two years.

Also, through her experimentation, she had discovered a second skill, one that was a bit more concentrated in that she could pull things, the ability also had an outlandish and showy name, but was so very dead useful, because some days Naruto was just lazy. Admittedly, it was kind of useful to her, especially when she was at home since she could only use the first technique when she was training, but she could use the second to call things towards her at home at any time.

Yet she still couldn't do that damn _Bunshin no Jutsu_ to save her own existance. It was really starting to piss her off something fierce. If she could send things from halfway across her apartment with two words while holding out her hand, why the hell couldn't she make a single clone? They came out look like half dead pieces of garbage and they hurt her eyes every time. Another reason to be thankful for the awesome black goggles.

Those thoughts whipped through her mind as she made her way to her home off near Hokage Mountain. An idle thought, wondering what ever happened to that corpse she had dragged through the village. What had been done with it.

All of this while unaware she was being watched by multiple sources. Some of which were even aware of the others, but there was one that managed to remain hidden, a scentless and formless shadow, watching...waiting...

* * *

_Leave the past  
__Shards of truth  
__It's the end but...  
__You're still my friend_

* * *

Sarutobi looked down at his desk and scanned over the document he was currently reading for the umpteenth time. Their best people had gone over the information retrieved and he still couldn't make heads or tails of it. Leaning back in his chair, he thought back to the incident the day after Naruto's fifth birthday. In the meantime, he used his influence to secretly place another ANBU fulltime on Naruto's security detail. One of the very few that almost no one else in the village knew about to keep track of the young child while she wasn't in the Academy or at home, but that was all done and over with.

Because of that minor additional detail, another two attacks of the same nature were stopped before Naruto was even aware of the thought of them, allowing the child to keep up her ruse in peace and practice within the safety of her new home.

It'd been nearly two years now, and Jiraiya was now operating even more closely to home than ever before, making sure to drop in on some visits when Naruto came by. In fact his student was due back the very day. Sarutobi lit his pipe once more and took of a puff from it while he thought more on various topics, knowing full well Jiraiya was intent on telling the little girl whom he was. Though Sarutobi, with a heavy heart, forbade the Toad Sage from teaching Naruto anything while she was still in the Academy. It was enough that she was training with little Sasuke and was glad Fugaku told his child not to show Naruto how to perform their signature _Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu_ technique.

It was harder and harder to keep information about Naruto from getting out into the open, at least she didn't look like Minato outside of the way she had her short red hair sticking up all over the place. Fact was that a couple days after the sealing, he was glad that Naruto had the standard red hair of the Uzumaki, he could claim that she really was an orphan that way and no one in the Elemental Nations would ever see otherwise. He just wondered how he'd be able to convince the girl he had her best interests at heart when it surely seemed like he was doing his very best to hold her back in training.

It didn't help that he knew a little about what she was capable when it came to her status, both as the holder of the Kyuubi no Youko, and with her strange doujutsu that Jiraiya still refused to elaborate on. Sarutobi knew there was something about it that he knew, but he couldn't quite place it, meaning his old age was really starting to catch up with him.

"Dammit, Minato...if you were still alive..."

But it was best not to dwell on such things.

The appearance of one of his ANBU appearing within his office did little to make Sarutobi's day all that better. The fact was, he had a suspicious feeling that things were about to get worse.

"Hokage-sama!" The ANBU was distraught, which was saying something. "Dire news. The Uchiha are..."

He was cut off by a sudden explosion on the far side of the Village that rocked even the Hokage tower.

"...Under attack." The ANBU finished lamely.

Who the Hell in their right minds would attack one of the strongest clans of Konoha in the middle of the day?

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed under his hat, ideas going through his head quickly. "Level Black Alert, alert the clans and sound the alarm. This is a Stage Six situation." The command was barked out angrily as the old Shinobi stood from behind his desk. "I will go see to this personally." The ANBU nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He quickly discarded his Hokage's robes, oddly dressed for combat underneath them. Of course, that was to say that Hiruzen Sarutobi was always prepared for a fight, one didn't live to be his age without erring on the side of caution after all. He refused to allow someone to attack his village, not so soon after peace was finally and fully established with the Uchiha.

Not but a moment later, Sarutobi was in the Uchiha district, taking in the fire of the ruined area, corpses strewn throughout. A flare of chakra caught his attention and he launched his way through the air towards the newest disturbance. What he found was not to his liking as he saw a Shinobi in a swirling mask standing back and watching as one of his own ANBU slaughtered the Shinobi around him.

"Oh Itachi..." Sarutobi murmured as he jumped from the roof he was on to intercept the boy's next strike. The deathblow stopped with a kunai, only to realize the target was a panting Fugaku, bleeding rather profusely. "Weasel! Stand down!" Sarutobi snarled out, holding the tanto back with the edge of his kunai, keeping his gaze away from the Uchiha's eyes. Noting that he had seen them from a distance and they were different from the normal Sharingan.

"Hokage-sama." The voice of his most loyal ANBU seemed strained and in pain. "Kill me...please..."

"No...!" a baited breath, ragged from pain, came from behind. "Itachi...why?"

"Not...me." The normally stoic teenager whispered. "Can't control myself."

"A most ingenious jutsu, if I do say so." A hollow voice rang out from the man in the mask. "I have full mental control of our young prodigy. Much like the boy I had him kill really. A form of hypnosis."

"What have you done?" Sarutobi demanded, keeping Itachi locked into a melee position would help so the young ANBU wouldn't be able to do any jutsu. It seemed the boy was resisting the technique as well.

The masked man, however, ignored the question and went on with his spiel. "Yes. Though it would seem the youngest of the able Uchiha is still able to resist my techniques. Though he went willingly along with the first kill that gained him his new eyes." There was a malicious lilt to the man's voice now.

"Traitor...anyway." The masked Itachi bit out.

"If only you accepted my earlier offer, I would've spared your family and you would train under me." The masked man seemed to give off a sigh. "Oh well. I guess I'll have to go with my original plan and just slaughter all those that have betrayed me." He said it with such nonchalance that Sarutobi and a very wounded Fugaku shuddered with wide eyes. "Now strike down the old fool, Itachi. Heed my command."

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama." Itachi whispered softly, glad for once that his opponent was the Sandaime himself, very few other Shinobi in the Village could take Itachi on in an even fight.

"No need to apologize my boy." Sarutobi said with a faint smile on his weathered lips. "I'll make sure you get out of this intact." With a violent shove, Sarutobi gave himself enough space to snap the kunai out in a throw and do several dozen hand signs quicker than even Itachi's Sharingan at its current level could even comprehend. "_Ninpou: Shinigami no Yami._"

The technique was much like Nidaime's technique, but on a much smaller and focused scale that moved with the target. It was one of The Professor's own made techniques, building upon both his sensei's teachings and the Nara shadow techniques. It surrounded the opponent's head from the neck up in a sphere of darkness so one could not hear, see, or feel within the sphere. Not like that would stop Itachi one bit, but it would hinder the boy enough for the incoming ANBU to subdue the boy.

"Fugaku-san. Get to the Hospital. This is a considered a Level Black, Stage Six Alert." The old Hokage lifted his hands to cover his mouth as he whispered just barely loud enough for the injured Patriarch of the Uchiha to hear

Fugaku didn't think it was possible to grimace even more. The last time such a high alert was given was a Seven when the Kyuubi attacked. Even the last Great Shinobi War was usually only a Five Alert. "Hai, Hokage-sama."

Itachi suddenly backed off, mid swing with his kunai and was quickly replaced by the masked man appearing in a swirl. "Oh no you don't, Fugaku-kun. I'm afraid you'll be dying here."

Sarutobi jumped back, taking Fugaku with him, moving to the rooftops where they could be seen easier and set the injured man down. The old Shinobi then threw out a few shuriken at once. "_Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!_" several dozen more phased into existance around the first three, flying true towards the masked man who did nothing to get out of the way. Itachi had moved out of the attack without even knowing it was coming, due to the masked man's mental command.

Sarutobi bit out a soft mental curse as he watched his attack just pass right through the masked man's body and connect with the wall and ground behind him. His eyes narrowed however as he thought about the situation. "Why get someone else to do this for you, why not do it yourself?" Sarutobi mused aloud. Maybe a prolonged attack would do it? He didn't seem to move when the attack came; maybe he just wasn't fast enough?

"Why indeed?" The man seemed to muse jovially, his emotions seemingly all over the place. "I needed an Uchiha of course. The power of the Sharingan is matched only by two others after all, but in benefits, it trumps the others." The man nodded sagely, despite being behind a mask. "Speaking of which, how is my little pet doing?"

"Pet?" Sarutobi asked with a frown. "We hold no pets of yours, whoever you are." Sarutobi was stalling for time, for sure, but that didn't matter.

"Of course you do. He hasn't seen much air since almost, what was it now...? Seven years ago? That must be it. Ah, that was a fun day." The man cackled.

Suddenly, a small voice rang out from the ground near the entrance way. "Jiji!"

"Why, there's his little collar now." Said the masked man. Sarutobi paled for a fraction of a second but didn't move quite yet. "Ah, I wonder if she'll look anything like her mother. I still wonder how she managed to survive after I broke apart that cage that held my pet. Maa maa. It's of no consequence."

"You will not touch a single hair on Naruto's head." Sarutobi snarled, suddenly very angry. This man was there for Naruto's birth? That wasn't what made Sarutobi angry though. No, it was the fact that he now knew the killer of his wife, this dirty son of a bitch in front of him.

The man shrugged absently. "I never did stick around long enough to watch what happened when my little Kyuubi was sealed. Too bad your Fourth is dead; I'd like to know how and why."

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed at this. Where the hell were his ANBU and the other clans? How had Naruto managed to get nearby? To many damn variables now. Once again, Naruto's voice let out a shrill "Jiji!" This time it was so very close and it made the seasoned Shinobi make his first and last mistake.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked away from the man in front of him for just a fraction of a second, only to see Naruto's frantic searching while holding onto little Sasuke's hand, leading the slightly taller girl around while calling out. Sasuke was shivering in fear, what little girl wouldn't at the age of seven when she was starting to be taught to steel against these things...and that was his mistake.

The next thing he knew and felt was a kunai piercing his stomach. He had shifted on instinct and a sixth sense all Shinobi eventually obtained, evading the fatal blow to the liver. However it was enough as Sarutobi jumped back to the ground, away from his opponent and, unfortunately, into Naruto and Sasuke's view. It was almost with an odd sense of detachment that Sarutobi realized this was enough to cause the Ninjutsu on Itachi to dispel as well.

"Old Man!" Naruto shrieked at the same time Sasuke's loud scream tore through the area.

"Oh ho? What's this? An Uchiha as a friend with the collar for my pet? I'd almost say that's inconceivable." The man held up the bloody kunai and tilted his one-eye mask back towards a now free Itachi. "Kill the little girl. I think it's time to break my pet free from its cage."

"No." Itachi murmured in defiance, once again wearing his ANBU mask while standing on an opposite rooftop away from the two children's gaze.

The man paused as he lifted his kunai to throw at the injured Hokage and turned fully towards Itachi, repeating Sarutobi's earlier mistake, but with nothing to fear. "What do you mean? No?"

"You heard me." Itachi bit out. "Half of the Uchiha are dead due to your mad transgressions. I will not be a part of your insane scheme."

"You would throw away such a chance at true power? Power over anything and everything?" The ma asked with incredulity in his voice. "You are the second strongest Uchiha to ever live and you'd turn your back on free power?"

"I never cared for it." Itachi finally said after a second. "I never watched power. I never wanted prestige. All I ever wanted was peace for me and my family." Itachi was gaining some emotion to his usual monotone voice. "But you threatened my family, you made me hurt my father...and you dare? You dare tell me to harm my little sister? There is only one more Uchiha that will die today and that is you!"

"Ah well..." the unknown Uchiha murmured with a half shrug. "Well, since that's out, I might as well let you in on another small detail, Itachi-kun..."

On the other side of the building, Sarutobi panted in pain as he looked down at his gaping wound while Naruto and Sasuke ran out to him. He ran through a set of hand seals that his female student had shown him, faint green chakra forming around his hand as the wound slowly healed from the inside out. "Naruto...you shouldn't be here."

"Old man?" Naruto's voice was frightened and she was trembling while clutching tightly onto Sasuke's hand. "What's going on?" She completely ignored the suggestion to run.

"Where's Otou-san?" Sasuke asked softly just after.

"Fugaku-san was injured and forced to leave the area, he's gone to the hospital." Sarutobi responded truthfully to the little girl before responding to Naruto's question. "The Uchiha Clan are under attack. ANBU should have been here and shouldn't have let either of you in. How did you get in?"

Naruto grimaced and looked between Sasuke and her favorite person in the whole world before tugging the goggles from her face, looking fully into the Old Man's face with her purple, ringed eyes. "Barrier Jutsu keeping people out and in...I...managed to slip in where it was...weaker I think-ttebayo." The girl's voice was subdued. "It's different than the one in the sky."

"Barrier in the sky?" Sarutobi asked, surprised. "You can see it?"

"Hai." Naruto said meekly. "I didn't want you to think I was going crazy, seeing lights and designs in the sky."

Sarutobi let out a weak chuckle as he finished healing the wound on his stomach before standing up. "You're still in danger, Naruto."

"I knew we should've stayed at Ichiraku's longer." Sasuke muttered dejectedly, though wondering exactly what was up with Naruto's eyes, this the first time seeing them in the past few years now, not since before her accident. They were still the same color...kinda.

"I don't care! I'm going to help! You don't know what I can do Old Man-ttebayo!" Naruto spoke fiercely. "I'm not a little girl anymore! I refuse to be a victim-ttebayo!" Naruto went strangely quiet and her eyes had a faraway look. "Besides...It's the right thing to do..."

Sarutobi dropped his hand on her head, ruffling the girl's short hair. "How about trying to bring the barrier down for me then?"

The little girl grimaced and clenched her small fist, taking hold of her off color orange shirt at the same time and wringing at it. "I made a small crack earlier when I tried to get back out. I...I don't know if I can do anything else to it-ttebayo."

"Someone should notice it then and help bring it down from the outside." Sarutobi said with a faint and optimistic smile for their benefit. "I'm going to go help Weasel-kun now, okay?"

"You and Weasel-niisan kick his ass!" Naruto said but suddenly jumped out of the way as the body of said ANBU was thrown between them, his mask broken apart, revealing the face of Itachi slumped in unconsciousness, bleeding on the ground. "We...wait...wait...Itachi-san? No. No...No..." she whispered, slumping down next to the inert body.

'Nii-san?" Sasuke's eyes went wide as she looked from the body on the ground to the man that threw it at them, her Sharingan activating out of pure anger, a single tomoe swirling in each eye. "You! You hurt Nii-san!"

"Me?" The same masked and unknown Uchiha gave a small shrug. "He didn't like what I told him and froze up so I _beat him up_." The man's voice was suddenly very childish and he hopped around clapping. "Tobi doesn't like unbelievers." Finally named, Tobi nodded his head empathetically. "Oh, what's this?"

Sarutobi, however noticed the small cut on the man's clothing and the faint trail of blood as he turned fully to look at the man, pondering the use of the blood on his hands. He was about to summon Enma when a mass swirl of chakra erupted into the air.

"You...you...!" It was Naruto's childish voice, reiterating what Sasuke said just moments before., red chakra swirling around her angrily. "You hurt Weasel-Niisan!"

"Ah. That would be why my little assassin failed a couple years ago. I was wondering." Tobi's whimsical voice reverted back to a calculating man. "What can one do? Oh well." He shrugged it off like it was nothing while Sarutobi's eyes widened slightly.

Naruto's eyes just narrowed as she held her palm out, standing up slowly and angrily. "_Banshou Ten'nin!_"

At the same time, Sasuke's own childish voice called out. "_Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!_" A fireball only half the size, but deadlier and more concentrated from her mouth since she was using both hands cupped together to make the fireball instead of just a ring of her thumb and index finger.

The result was two fold in that Tobi was suddenly and violently pulled from his perch as if someone grabbed the front of his robes and dragged him bodily through the air, directly into the path of the fireball that actually made impact, creating a large explosion that enveloped the man.

Before the cloud could impede and vision, Sarutobi's own voice called out after he finished his own technique. "_Suiton: Mizurappa!_" The quick succession of water bullets tore through the explosion, clearing away the smoke and superheating the area with steam, but there was no one there for the technique to hit.

The man named Tobi was simply standing there on the ground, several dozen feet away from them now, he looked no worse for wear, but there was a faint burnt part on the cloak he was wearing. "Ah. It would seem that two brats and an old man are doing better than the whole Uchiha clan have. My, how the mighty have fallen." Tobi spoke dryly behind his mask. "Oh well, it's time to take my leave, and as a parting gift, I even took care of the traitors for you, Sandaime-san."

"What traitors?" Sarutobi asked warily, still keeping up his guard with one hand, but holding on tightly to Naruto with the other to make sure she didn't try to attack again.

"Why, the members of Uchiha that were planning a coup." Tobi reminded him with an insane giggle. "There were still some remnants, so I took care of them for you and then started in on the rest, though I did leave my informant alive for fun. I even told little Itachi and he just froze up in shock. Such a bad habit, you know?"

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke demanded shrilly, her own Sharingan still swirling madly, but the girl was starting to pant from chakra exertion. "Tell me!"

"Ah ah!" Tobi wagged a finger at the little girl. "They're all dead save one or two. Those two Senbei Bakers were deceptively hard to deal with too." Tobi tapped his chin once more and was about to go on when Naruto's voice interrupted him once more.

"_Banshou Ten'nin!_" She shrieked out, but instead of Tobi being pulled towards her, a piece of debris from Itachi's murder spree launched itself into the air and back through the man towards Naruto with a startling speed, it suddenly being stopped by Tobi grabbing it midflight after it had passed through his chest.

"I'm sure you have lots of questions, and I'll tell you the best person to answer all of them." Tobi said, tossing the rock off to the side. "Mikoto Uchiha knows everything; after all, she was how I got _all_ my information. Ja!" Tobi waved cheerfully before being sucked into a swirling vortex that seemed to originate from his eye.

"Kaa-san...?" Sasuke asked softly, dropping down on her knees next to her older and unconscious brother before slumping down across his chest herself.

"That bastard!" Naruto's voice shrieked out. "I'll kill him, then revive him and then I'll kill him again and again and again! I'll destroy his murdering ass!"

"Naruto!" Sarutobi's voice barked out. "Calm down. Let go off all the chakra you're using."

It took a moment but Naruto finally calmed down, it helped that her eyes were closed and she wasn't able to see the bodies of the dead Uchiha. "Sorry Old Man...I just kind of lost it when I saw him...and then...with Weasel-niisan..." She trailed off and fidgeted a little and then sighed a little before getting distracted and looking upwards. "Someone just broke the barrier."

"Finally." Sarutobi let out a chuckle and then sat down heavily next to Sasuke and Itachi. "Sit down for now and relax. Using that chakra must hurt a bit."

"Yeah, I guess so." Naruto mumbled sheepishly and then sighed and flopped down next to one of her most precious people. "What do you think he meant by that? Mrs. U is always nice to me! She feeds me all the time too..." She trailed off, hoping Sasuke's mom wasn't a traitor.

Before Sarutobi could answer, several ANBU and Jiraiya himself appeared on the scene, the tell-tale signatures of over a dozen ANBU was also within the vicinity as they also scouted out the Uchiha district while Jiraiya launched his own flare to signify where their Hokage was. "Sensei, you okay?" idly also noting that Naruto's goggles weren't on the girl's face and fully seeing the little girl's eyes for the first actual time. Nevertheless he went on without waiting for an answer. "I barely just managed to break through the barrier after I found a crack in it. If it wasn't for that mistake, I don't think we'd've made it for another twenty minutes."

Sarutobi laid a placating hand on Naruto's shoulder to make sure she couldn't boast about her accomplishment, "I don't think we would have made it without your timely arrival Jiraiya-kun." Sarutobi smiled a little. "What about Fugaku-san?"

He's already been moved to the Hospital, Hokage-sama." One of the nearest ANBU spoke quickly. "Iris-san appeared and took him herself." Even when retired, Shinobi of the village still helped when they could.

Three more ANBU instantly appeared on the scene along with a silver haired Jounin who instantly took in the scene. Neko, Nezumi, Kakashi, and oddly, Dolphin stood there for half a second before he went over to kneel next to his former charge, the hood on his cloak up and covering the top of his mask. "Are you not supposed to be at the Academy?" The man's voice, garbled by the mask still somehow a tint of amusement in it, despite the morbid scene.

"It's lunchtime!" Naruto defended herself. "..And! And...Sasuke forgot he...his money! Yeah!" The girl pretending to be a boy hoped to all hope that her cover wasn't blown, even if she nearly flubbed it on Sasuke.

The ANBU shook his head though was chuckling quietly as he pulled at the goggles around Naruto's throat. "You're not good at keeping secrets, Naruto-chan." Dolphin's voice was a small whisper as the man pulled the goggles up gently and put them over Naruto's eyes before standing up. "Shall I bring them back to the Academy?"

"No, Dolphin. They've done enough for the day. If it weren't for them, I probably still wouldn't be here. "Take Weasel and Sasuke to the hospital and place them with their father, Fugaku. Neko, take Naruto home and spend some time with...him." Sarutobi showed Naruto a secret smile and winked. "Kakashi, go with them and make sure no one bothers either of them." The woman didn't even look up from her orange little book, but did manage a nod. "Nezumi, find me Mikoto Uchiha, we need her for questioning. Jiraiya.." he trailed off and pushed himself up from his sitting position as everyone around him started to move, bracing himself on his knees as he panted a little, gingerly feeling the healed cut on his stomach. "Jiraiya, let's go back to my office, there's much we need to discuss."

Before Naruto was taken by Neko and an accompanying Kakashi, she looked carefully at the Old Man. "You better be okay, Old Man. I'm taking that hat from you and no one else, you got that?"

"We'll see, Naruto-kun. Go on and enjoy the rest of your day, we'll take care of everything else here." Sarutobi's smile was there, but it was slightly sad as he watched the child leave. Another ANBU appeared, handing Sarutobi his robes, allowing the man to quickly throw them on over his combat gear and placing the large hat over his helmet. After a moment, he walked haltingly slow with his former student towards the entrance of the Uchiha compound. "Jiraiya-kun, I'm not sure how much longer I can stay Hokage. This has already been Seven years longer than it should have been." Oh how he hated to bring that memory up. "...And we need to bring Tsunade-chan home."

"I just got back Old Man." Jiraiya complained with a grumble. Though he did relent with a sigh, looking at his old Sensei. "She keeps on the move too much, though I've already gotten a message to her that she should at least come and see her God-Daughter. Especially since I've mentioned that even I've done it several times, she never liked it when I one-upped her to many times."

"Honestly, I've been thinking of making Itachi the next Hokage, but after today, I'm not sure how he'll take it." Sarutobi murmured softly as he closed his eyes, enjoying the walk back, taking the shortest way instead of just using _Shunshin_ to get back to the Tower. "A jutsu much like the Yamanaka use was put on the boy, he was forced to kill at least half of the able Uchiha...I'm not sure about the civilians either. I fear Sasuke might be the youngest alive. I overheard them talking, if it wasn't for Sasuke appearing, Weasel might not have been able to break free."

"He's surprisingly powerful for a teenager." Jiraiya remarked idly.

"Well, he was part of my child genius squad." Sarutobi rejoined. "He could probably give you a run for your money on your average day."

"Hah. I could beat all four of them no problem and that's without even using my summons." Especially his Sage Mode techniques and that one Genjutsu that could probably withstand the Sharingan's method of seeing through them. "I'm surprised Dolphin showed up and wasn't back at the Academy."

"You know how he worries, especially with his location techniques." Sarutobi said with a chuckle and a wet cough. "It would seem he got me better than I thought." Sarutobi said wryly, switching the topic to Tobi suddenly. "I'm just glad he didn't have the foresight to poison his blade or I wouldn't be here."

Finally they made it back to the tower and Sarutobi finally slumped in his well-used chair, ignoring the stack of paperwork he still had yet to go over. He looked beyond his years, the stress of life finally catching up to him, but he'd still power through it. "Jiraiya. When Weasel is well enough, take him go get Tsunade."

"An ANBU won't help me convince Tsunade-hime to come back Sensei. Especially not an Uchiha one." Jiraiya remarked softly, taking a seat on the window sill and crossing his arms.

"It's the only thing I can think of. You can't take Naruto to her." It went unsaid that Tsunade would probably try and kidnap Naruto at first chance. "I think she knows about her burden too. She tapped its power when she was mad earlier today. Used a technique I can't really say anything about." Now that was really odd in of itself.

"I can." Jiraiya said with a sigh. "It's a Gravity based technique. One of two she'll more than likely be able to use. They use her as the center of the Jutsu and then either pull or push things from that Center."

"Will you tell me about her eyes yet?"

"It can't get out to your advisors, Sensei. If any of those two or Danzo caught wind of exactly what she was capable..." Jiraiya hissed lowly, but closed his eyes and sighed. "You already know what it is, you just can't place it, I bet." When he got a sigh and a nod, Jiraiya ran a hand through his wild mane of white hair and let out a sigh. "She'll be able to use any technique, of any kind, of any sort. She'll eventually inherit one of your nicknames, and it's not The Professor...it comes, biologically, after all."

Sarutobi let out a huff of breath as he stared at his pupil with deadly eyes. "Are you telling me...?"

"Yes, Old Man. She has _those_ eyes." Jiraiya said with a grumble.

Sarutobi made a snap decision there and then. "She must remain in the Academy as if nothing is any different. I suspect she will eventually graduate with classmates her own age."

Jiraiya stared at Sarutobi for a moment, "Isn't that just going to hinder her abilities?"

"Maybe, but it'll help her emotionally if she makes friends from school instead of enemies out in the world. It's bad enough that she has the traditional Uzumaki red-hair. If Iwa found out she was also Minato's daughter, about her burden, and her eyes? Thankfully it's enough that the rest of the Villages believe the Kyuubi was killed because they all feared what the Fourth could do while alive."

"Hah, a fitting open legacy I suppose. The Man that killed the Nine Tailed Demon." Jiraiya spoke bitterly. "The rest of the world thinks it's dead while the rest of our village thinks that the girl was named for her burden instead of her family."

"Several clan heads know. And please have some more faith in Homura and Koharu, they knew her parents, and so did Danzo." Sarutobi said gently. "As for why Weasel is accompanying you is because I need her to check up on him first and foremost. She still does special cases for me, and he is one of them. Just like Kakashi-chan's eye."

"Fine. I've got it." Jiraiya said with another sigh as he slumped further against the window sill. "What should I tell her?"

"I want to see my wayward student and talk to her about some things, and for her to come see her God-child. We all lost people in the Third War, but Konoha needs her right now and I want her to come home, and though we may not be related, I do miss my wayward daughter." Sarutobi had a genuine smile on his face for the first time that day.

* * *

_A Silent Bell Tolls  
__Remember the fallen...  
__Remember the faithful...  
__Remember the forgotten..._

* * *

Mikoto Uchiha was sitting in a chair at a bolted down table within a dark room. There were shackles on her arms with seals to prevent all her usage of chakra. She had been taken by surprise and she had awoken within the room. She knew what had happened, she had done nothing to change the fact, and she also knew why she was here. She had waited for days, food being brought in by a nameless ANBU every time, once a day, just enough to put her on the edge of hunger. She was a Shinobi however, and she would stand the faint thrum of hunger in her gut.

Finally, late one day, or perhaps early, Ibiki Morino finally deigned her worthy of his time. He walked into the room, bringing a single chair with him, dropping it down as he sat on it while watching her. After several moments of silence, the scarred Toukubetsu Jounin finally spoke. "You know why you're here."

It was not a question.

Mikoto did nod, only faintly.

"Tell me why I shouldn't have you killed for Treason then." There was a hint of amusement in the twenty-something's voice.

"They lied." Was her statement, simple and precise, but she did expand on that almost instantly. "Whomever it was, I've never seen of, heard of, nor spoken to him or her." Mikoto was phrasing her words very carefully. She was, after all, the wife of a Clan Head. She knew politics.

Ibiki leaned forwards, reaching into his trench coat and pulled out a manila folder, dropping it on the table without preamble and then opened it, flicking past the first few pages of information. "You knew where Kushina Uzumaki was when she gave birth."

"She never told me where." Mikoto responded instantly. "I saw her with Biwako-sama while I was with my own daughter." She tried to keep a straight face, but Ibiki did notice there was a faint twitch in her cheek when he spoke Kushina's name."

"...And then you went back to the Uchiha District and mentioned that fact to the Uchiha Council, no?" Ibiki didn't even look up from the folder, though his eyes were really on her face.

Mikoto paused slightly, her cheek twitching again. "I mentioned it to whomever asked where I was."

"Spreading the blame, huh?" Ibiki dropped the page he was looking at. "Regardless, you were named as such. Your son has confirmed that it was an Uchiha that attacked the district. Odd that you were the only Uchiha not there, isn't it?"

"Uchiha?" Mikoto asked softly, she wasn't really surprised. "I know of no Uchiha that is not loyal to the clan."

Ibiki snorted at that. "Just not completely loyal to Konoha, is it? Regardless, most of them are dead, so that could be something." He shifted through the pieces of paper once more. "What was your opinion on the coup attempt?"

Mikoto sighed softly and slumped slightly in the chair. "I had no opinion either way, Fugaku is my Husband and I follow him whatever way he decided...until recently."

"What changed your mind?"

"Naruto."

Ibiki arched a single eyebrow ever so slightly as he leaned back in his chair. "And why would Naruto Uzumaki change your opinion on things?"

They both sat in silence for several minutes. Ibiki watched as Mikoto bit the inside of her cheek, he knew she was holding something back, and was content to just sit there and watch the woman go over things in her head. She'd crack soon enough, they always did, it was just a matter of when and how much.

"She looks just like her mother, alright?" Mikoto was slowly loosing composure. "She was supposed to have a son, and he was supposed to look like _him._" She hissed out the last word angrily. "It's what all the doctors said.

Ibiki just sat there and listened as Mikoto started to flush, angrily. "So you wanted her dead?" He asked finally, his voice soft.

"Yes! I wanted her dead. I wanted him dead! And their abomination of a child..!" Ibiki lifted an eyebrow slightly, about to interject, but kept his mouth shut as Mikoto kept on ranting. "...He stole her away! She was mine, she was _mine!_ My friend, my best friend and that bastard took her away. He got her pregnant and took her away from me!" Tears were in her eyes now as she kept going. "And then it happened, Kyuubi broke free, and they died...and I was so happy that he was dead, and I hated myself for it. Do you understand how I felt? I was so happy, so fucking happy that he was dead, but no...she was gone too. It wasn't worth it, it was never worth it and I didn't know anything. He used me, and I didn't even fucking know it! And it was all the same in the end...and the plans kept going, I ignored the child, I hated her from afar, just like everyone else. I hated her so much because she looked like her so much. My best friend, I loved her, I loved her so fucking much, and there was this reminder of her running about Konoha...and I ignored her. I ignored and hated her to the best of my ability. Then my little Sasuke made friends with her...and she came over...and they were friends, just like me and Kushina...and I couldn't stand myself. I did everything for Kushina, she was everything to me and I loved her more than anything else...and I got her killed...and then Naruto was attacked, nearly killed and I lost it. I couldn't do it, I couldn't look at her and I wanted it all to stop. Sasuke was so worried, in so much pain, and I just couldn't handle it anymore. I asked Fugaku to have it all stopped, for me...for her memory, for Naruto."

Mikoto was sobbing, she was barely able to get her words out now, tears stained her face, dripping from her chin as she started to break down like a child, her head slumping down to the table as she started to scream in pain and anger. She hated herself and she let herself go. It took another ten minutes for the Matriarch of the Uchiha clan to regain a measure of her composure as she kept her head down on the table, eyes closed to shut away the tears. "She looks so much like her, I couldn't do it. It was enough to stop, and the plans fell apart. All Uchiha were told that the clan would be loyal to the last Uchiha, loyal to the Village, because that was what was right. Some never agreed, but kept their peace. Guess that didn't matter in the end..." She finally trailed off, finally lifting her head from the table to look at Ibiki. "I never went to any specific member of the clan, but I was also the most vocal and well known throughout the village. Village Gossip, that was all in the end."

Ibiki shook his head ever so slightly, listening with a blank stare as he dropped the folder fully on the table, it spread wide open. With a twist of his wrist, the folder was turned around and slowly slid it's way over towards Mikoto. After a solitary moment, Ibiki picked up his chair and left the room quietly, leaving Mikoto to go over the papers by herself.

She stared at them, picking up the pictures slowly, going them over, one by one, the damages...

Tears formed in her eyes as she wept once more.

All of this pain and suffering because she had originally been jealous.

"I'm so sorry Kushina..." Mikoto trembled, shifting the page to look at the very last one before she broke down in tears once more.

A single picture of Kushina Uzumaki, one arm extended in a victory pose while the other was wrapped around Mikoto Uchiha who was looking a little embarrassed and flushed. Mikoto was heavily pregnant and Kushina was just starting to show herself, both were dressed in matching maternal clothing. Tears slowly started to drip, down onto the picture as she stared for a good minute at the picture.

Mikoto's screams of anguish, suffering, and sadness tore through the empty room.

* * *

_I am alone  
__I have no emotions  
__Except Pain  
__...I bathe in it..._

* * *

It had been several months after the Uchiha Massacre before everything had gone back to normal in the Village. Mikoto Uchiha was eventually released with a full pardon, Fugaku Uchiha had retired from being an active member of the Force and Itachi Uchiha eventually woke up from the coma he was put into, though that was a few months in of itself. Itachi still had not taken any missions since and was still under orders to make a full recovery before he made his next mission, those specific orders had come from Hiruzen Sarutobi himself when he visited the boy after he woke up in the hospital.

The total end result was that all 'able' members of the Uchiha had been killed off, and most of the civilians as well. Several children were left alive, but were too old to begin the Academy, and the youngest that could was still a toddler and wouldn't be ready to join for several years yet.

The youngest able Uchiha was still within the Academy, and still under the disguise she had thrown up, but now she was more closed off, subdued and started to brood over what had happened. Most of the classmates in Sasuke's class had noticed the change, and for the first few weeks, when curious, had been told to; 'Go the hell away and leave me alone.' in a voice that was near dead in emotion.

Several of the Teachers at the Academy watched as Sasuke slowly developed her own Thousand Yard Stare.

It was the biggest event since the Hyuuga Incident and Orochimaru's own desertion. It was also the only really large event to happen within the village for the next several years. Or at least it was for most of the population. ANBU had a watch on Naruto once again, though under a very discrete eye and was pretty much a Black Op, even if it was in their own village.

One Yugao Uzuki, formerly Uzumaki, reported that the self-same night of the Uchiha Massacre, they were mock sparring and wrestling, when Naruto's palm opened up and a blackish-red chakra rod erupted, bloodlessly from her palm, nearly cutting Uzuki's leg in the process. The elder woman took it in stride and had reported that Naruto was freaked out only momentarily before exclaiming how 'cool' it was that she now had a weapon on her at all times. The rod apparently disintegrated when it was no longer in use with not even a smidge of dust left anywhere.

The next big event, for Naruto at least, was when she failed her fourth year and had to repeat the class once again. Unknowingly, it was for much the self-same reason as the first time she failed, but this time. To her though, it was because she was sick, for the first time ever, really. It landed her in the hospital after she started throwing up, and it took a month to clear up. The higher-ups in the village knew exactly what it was, but kept the child unawares. Wondering who it was that made this attempt on the Jinchuuriki's life.

The rest of that year proceeded quietly, outside of the sudden rash of pranks originating from Naruto Uzumaki, Kiba Inuzuka, Chouji Akimichi, and Nara Shikamaru, the four people in that year with the worst grades, and that string of pranks extended to absences that kept up over the entire year, though all four managed to make a passing grade. That was also the year that Sasuke developed fan girls, mainly to the disguised girl's utter disgust. She even developed a few fan boys, though she wasn't interested in the least, especially since they all considered her a boy.

Naruto decided to fake a crush on one of the biggest fan girl's, just to keep some of the attention off of Sasuke, and she noticed she also had to start wrapping her chest with bandages to keep up her personage, or at least until she found the best jacket to ever exist.

It was orange, white and blue, it had pants to match, had her favorite swirl on the back of the jacket. It also had this...thing with a slot for it on her left shoulder. She didn't know what it was for, but it bounced around wildly while she was running. Underneath the jacket she decided to wear her wrappings, a black tank top and then some mesh over that as well. There was even a spot for a kunai in the right forearm that would shoot out when she held her hand a certain way. She spent weeks practicing with that until she could get it to shoot out and she could catch it just right to be useful in a fight.

At the end of the year, she found out only one team managed to pass and none of the failures decided to come back to the Academy at all. She was sort of friends with the three on the team, and only because she knew Neji from before she was in the Academy. She thought he was a bit snobbish now, but he also knew her secret and kept his mouth shut about it.

Finally, her last year at the Academy had started, and she couldn't wait to be done. She had changed how her hair was done too, keeping it a bit longer since it spiked out all over the place. She had seen a picture of the Yondaime and started to wear her hair exactly like his, though slightly longer in the back which was pretty much hidden by the massive collar her jacket had, keeping it in mini ponytail. Over the year, she escalated her pranks and kept her grades the lowest she possibly could. She had figured out that Iruka-sensei was really in on it and made her goto class whenever she actually needed to show up for a test or an extremely important lecture.

Of course, none of that stopped her from finishing up the final stages for the last major prank she'd ever pull in the Academy. She had the paint ready, the patrol schedules for the morning, her new jacket actually blended in with the stone in the early morning. It'd take her hours, but she'd be damned if she didn't pull it off.

The second last day of classes is where she pulled it off. With Sasuke's help, secretly, of course.

She managed to paint all four faces with various colors and different designs and was in the process of finishing up when she was finally spotted by some Chuunin. She made some loud excuses so she could keep the attention away from Sasuke whom was on top of the Monument, and she took off with a wild jump, all while taunting and making rude gestures to her chasers. It'd be no doubt that she'd be caught within ten minutes, she wasn't that fast, and they'd more than likely obtain help from Iruka-sensei.

She wasn't surprised that she managed to avoid capture up until the final moment, coming out from hiding with an irate Iruka snapping at her from behind and quickly binding her in rope and wire, tight enough that she couldn't break free and dragged her back to the Academy, not even lifting her as they went over stairs as well.

Suffice to say, everyone had a good laugh when she was dragged in and dropped in front of the classroom.

"Naruto!" Iruka barked out, snapping Naruto from her thoughts. "Pay attention."

"Bah!" Naruto twisted her head away and snorted.

"Tomorrow is the Graduation Exam, do you really want to repeat a year for the third time?" Iruka seemed pretty pissed off and Naruto just shrugged it off. a little. "This is no time for causing trouble! Quit being such an idiot!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Naruto let out a huff, inwardly smirking. This was perfect!

Iruka's response, however, was less than enjoyable, it sounded like had audibly snapped. "That's it. EVERYONE! Line up! You're doing a review on the _Henge no Jutsu_!" The screams and shouts of indignation from the rest of the class was music to his ears. "Transform perfectly into me!" He then made a single handsel and the ropes and wire around Naruto disappeared with a puff of smoke while the rest of the class lined up with Naruto being the third in line after Sakura and Sasuke.

Sakura's transformation was perfect, of course. Same with Sasuke's.

"Alright Naruto, you're up." Iruka intoned from his spot.

A couple of the students behind him huffed in annoyance. "This is all your fault." Shikamaru mumbled. "Troublesome."

"We always pay for your mistakes." One Ino Yamanaka growled.

"Like I care." Naruto shrugged it off and waked forward, adjusting her goggles and allowing a huge smirk to cross her face. Whereas the others usually needed three hand signs, she just used one, a single Ram seal as she gathered chakra. A blaze of chakra rising around her form as the dust and pebbles were even tossed away. "_Oiroke no Jutsu_!"

A larger poof of smoke appeared around Naruto, twisting and twirling away to reveal a taller Naruto with longer hair tied up in two large ponytails. The smoke kept twirling away revealing a naked girl with an overly large bust, bending over slightly provocatively, the smoke staying and only covering what was needed from eyesight, no matter the angle that someone looked. "_Chuu._" Naruto made a kissing noise as Iruka stared wide-eyed for a half a second before being rocketed back with a large burst of blood coming from his nose. The naked Naruto released the _Henge_ with a one handed Ram and started laughing in an uproar. "Bwuahah! That's my new and original Sexy technique!"

None of the females in the class were impressed, still thinking that Naruto was actually a boy and Naruto caught Sasuke's silent 'Tch' of a response as well.

Iruka finally stabilized himself, tissue stuffed up his nose as he glared violently at Naruto, a minor Genjutsu active to make his head look overly large as he yelled at his student "You idiot! Don't make up stupid jutsu!"

Naruto just winced but plastered a fake smile on her lips rather quickly. "Heh."

"Now do it properly."

"Hai hai."

A quick Ram seal and once again a large poof of smoke and Iruka looked over the _Henge_ in front of him. "Much better, but you need to adjust for the shade your eyes are viewing in, My clothes aren't that dark, Naruto."

"Thanks Iruka-sensei!" Naruto spoke in Iruka's voice before dispelling the technique and then promptly went to ignoring the class as she walked off to the side like Naruto and Sasuke.

She only vaguely heard Iruka call for Ino next, but was too busy watching Sakura try and garner Sasuke's attention who wasn't even paying attention to the fan girl. Naruto did manage to catch a faint smirk on her friend's lips as she moved closer. "Smooth, dobe." Sasuke finally grunted out.

"Wasn't it though, teme?" Naruto rejoined airily, making her voice a bit more guttal than usual. Sounding like a boy was starting to be a bit harder for the two of them, puberty was hitting them after all.

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that, Naruto!" Sakura screeched.

Sasuke snorted. "Tch."

"Sorry, Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned wildly. "Ready for tomorrow? I can't wait to get out of here!"

"I wonder what the final exam is gonna be..." Sakura mumbled worriedly.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll do fine, Sakura-chan." Naruto announced loudly. "If I can do it, you can surely do it!"

Sakura looked up for half a second, her eye glinting at what Naruto was saying for a moment. There was something about Naruto that always bothered the pink haired girl, but she wasn't really sure what it was, and she was also starting to get the same vibe from Sasuke, but that didn't really matter, this was Sasuke-kun after all! Oh Sasuke-kun...

Naruto blinked from behind her goggle and tilted her head to the side as she watched Sakura go off into dreamland, twisting her head to look at Sasuke, she caught the other girl's faint shrug. A faint twirl of Sasuke's finger around her ear nearly made Naruto snort in laughter.

"It'll be _Bunshin no Jutsu_." Sasuke finally grunted out. "I'd bet the entire district on it."

Now it was Naruto's turn to snort as both Ino and Shikamaru joined their quiet little conversation. "Sucker bet. I know Iruka-sensei is the Head Instructor, I've had him for the past seven years and all, but I bet it wasn't his decision."

Shikamaru's eyebrows rose at that. "You've had Iruka-sensei since you started the Academy?"

"Yeah." Naruto shrugged, trying to keep her voice boyish. "I was kinda surprised when I showed up to repeat my second year that he was still teaching me, same with last year when I redid the fourth year."

"Why did you fail those two times anyway?" Ino asked with a frown, trying to creep closer to Sasuke, noting with annoyance that Forehead was still off in dreamland and mumbling about Sasuke-kun with hearts in her eyes.

"Ah, I really flubbed up on some tests in my second year. Especially the final's for the year, I could barely read the pages and I couldn't concentrate, everything was just really off and I was really, really dizzy." Naruto shrugged it off, it was really no consequence now after all. "As for the end of my fourth, well, I got sick."

"Sick?" Sasuke asked, even though she knew, it was best to look like she didn't.

"Yeah. In the hospital for a month. I was doing good enough to pass that year too, but when you don't get to do your finals, your grade drops like a rock an' all." Naruto frowned slightly. "Hokage-j...er...sama, seemed to be pretty pissed when he came to visit me those last few times."

Now that Sasuke didn't quite know and Shikamaru picked up on that last part himself. "Why would Sandaime-sama be angry you were in the hospital." Shika's eyes were narrowed in thought as he looked at Naruto's goggles, seeing his own reflection clear as day when Naruto twisted to look at him.

"Outside of being dizzy at the end of my second year and then ending up in the hospital, I've never been sick a day in my life." Naruto just shrugged it off. "Guess he was just mad at me for not taking care of myself. He visits all the orphans y'know?"

Kiba was the next to join them. "Hokage-sama visits orphans? I guess I can see that, Hana-nee mentioned something like that a couple years back." Akamaru let out a bark of agreement with that. Then barked a few more times. "That's a good question." Kiba nodded in agreement with his dog. "What do you guys think about tomorrow's final?"

"Ninjutsu, _Bunshin no Jutsu_. Is my bet." Sasuke actually responded. She'd been friends with Kiba for years now.

"And as I said before, it's a sucker's bet." Naruto reiterated.

"Why's that?" Shikamaru asked another frown plastered on his face, catching the miniscule twist of Naruto's head to look at Sasuke before both of them shrugged faintly.

"Everyone here can do it but me." Naruto said with a grunt. "Notice how a good portion of the Sensei's don't like me? They don't want me to pass and become a Shinobi."

Sakura finally snapped out of her Sasuke-kun induced dream fever at that. "That's nonsense." She snapped out. "Why would Academy Instructors be biased like that?"

"Politics." Sasuke responded. "It would look bad to the civilians, since they don't like the dobe."

"Shut it teme." Naruto groused out.

"I've noticed that." Shikamaru nodded with a yawn.

Chouji joined them next, the last of that group of friends. "Noticed what?" He asked, munching on a bag of chips.

"The way those useless civilians look at Naruto when we're out and about." Kiba spoke out in his usual loud and boisterous tone, though with a hint of a snarl.

"S'why I got the Monument today." Naruto said, putting her arms behind the back of her head. "Took me a few years to get everything together and took a couple hours to get it all together. Honestly, that should've been enough to get me to pass regardless of tomorrow." Naruto grumbled at that. "But I gotta go clean it tonight anyway."

"Why should you pass for defacing the Hokage's Monument?" Ino asked with a twitch in her face, a vein forming on her forehead.

"Did you look at it?" Naruto asked with a foxy grin. "I did all that without getting caught and without help..." '..._for the most part._' He coughed as he thought that last part, keeping Sasuke out of it on purpose.

"All four faces." Chouji nodded. "That's a lot of distance to cover, top to bottom and left to right. Though, it really wasn't right to do that to the Monument."

"True." Naruto did agree to that. "But it was fun. Like I said, I'm cleaning it tonight, though a good rain will make it all go away anyway. Special solvent paint, which is why it took me so long, some of that stuff comes from Kusa and even as far away as Kiri."

Ino narrowed her eyes for a moment "That's a bit much."

"Dobe." Sasuke snorted in mock agreement with Ino, though the barest hints of a smile could be seen on the Uchiha's lips.

"Teme." Naruto responded with a full-blown grin of her own

"Alright everyone!" Iruka finally cut in over the rest of the students talking. "You're dismissed early for the day because I need to take _someone_ to go clean up their mess. I want you all prepared for the exam tomorrow!"

"See you guys tomorrow." Naruto continued with a grin. "I'll be cleaning the Monument for the next several hours."

The rest of the little group rolled their eyes and everyone wandered off with both Sakura and Ino constantly trailing after Sasuke.

"Alright Naruto! Let's go." Iruka called out once everyone else had left. "It's going to take you most of the night to get this cleaned isn't it?"

Naruto rubbed the back of her head and chucked weakly. "Nah. It'll come off easy, just some water and it'll be good."

Iruka blinked at that. "Good, you're starting to plan ahead again, I thought you'd forgotten to do that over these past couple of years."

"Yeah, well...when you go over the same things in class over and over and over, it gets kind of boring." Naruto snorted with a faint growl. "Just because I don't like sitting still and taking tests, I'm considered the Dead Last. I can beat the hell out of everyone in this year if I really wanted." She wasn't looking at Iruka so she didn't catch the fact that he was grinning.

"That so? Hm." Iruka nodded his head in agreement, he knew Naruto was holding back.

"I'd blast them out of the ring, every single one of 'em-ttebayo!" Naruto nodded and swung her fist up into the air cheerfully as they start to leave the Academy. "To bad no one'll show me any techniques. Everyone thinks I suck 'cause I can't make a stupid _Bunshin_. I'll show 'em soon enough that I can do this!"

Iruka smiled secretly and inwardly nodded in agreement. He had seen what she could do, after all. Naruto just didn't know that he knew. It was kind of amusing to him to watch Naruto walk into the boys laboratory every time. He wasn't really sure why, but he found the entire thing entertaining and amusing. He'd be talking to Kakashi, Ayame, and Itachi tonight after this was all done to share some good stories over the last few years. After all, he'd been a Chuunin for seven whole years now. "Alright Naruto. If you can get this done quickly, I'll take you to Ichiraku's, alright?"

"Really? I haven't seen Ayame-nee in a few days, and I haven't had Ramen in nearly a week! It's been maddening." Naruto cheered and started to run ahead.

Iruka just smiled and laughed. Today had been turning out to be pretty good, all things considered.

* * *

_I just want to breathe  
__but you won't let me go  
__I just want to believe  
__but you're keeping me under..._

* * *

"_Whaaaaat_?" Naruto looked over what she was reading again. "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_? Come on, why does it have to be something I'm bad at?" With a sigh, she ran over the instructions and blinked a few times. "That ain't so bad really." She mused nodded, setting the scroll down. There was a single hand sign to make, thus making it all that much easier. Of course, it was also the first jutsu on the scroll. Moving a few feet away, following the instructions and concentrating on the chakra she needed, she made the weird hand sign and called out the technique. "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

She was pleasantly surprised when the clone that popped out was much healthier looking than the ones she was used to trying to make. However, she was also less than impressed that her vision was even more distorted than usual. "Ugh, this technique makes me head hurt...but I'll do it and pass!" Naruto declared loudly to herself, dispelling the clone, glad her vision cleared up completely before huffing and pulling her goggles off.

Another glance at the instructions on the scroll and she went over it in her head and she did the sign and technique once more, this time the clone came out more clearly, less pale, and her vision got distorted again. "Okay, this is creepy." She grumbled, closing her eyes and really annoyed that she could still see a blur.

"Hey...Boss?" The clone asked weakly.

"Shit! You can talk?" Naruto swore loudly.

"Yeah, guess so...uhh..." the clone trailed off, turning and looking at the real Naruto, blinking a few times. "...I think it might be our eyes."

"Oh, these are more trouble than they're worth." Naruto grumbled. "Mine are closed...so why can I see myself?"

"I think it's because we're connected? You see what I see?" The clone shrugged, closing its own eyes, delving them both into complete darkness. "I'm going to disperse, try summoning two of us."

"Gotcha." Naruto nodded, keeping her eyes closed as she once again repeated the technique, two clones coming into existance with their eyes closed. "Alright, both of you keep your eyes closed."

"Sure thing Boss." They both said.

Naruto slowly opened her eyes, looking at her two clones and tilted her head slightly to the side. "You're both looking healthier than the last two."

"We are, aren't...oh, damn." One of them said in realization.

"Boss, we can see ourselves through your eyes." The other said, keeping her eyes completely shut.

"Oh." Naruto blinked a few times. "Oh...oh...Oh! This is...Is this great? I mean, wow..." she blinked a few more times. "Time to experiment!" She was about to ask the one on the right to turn around when it did before she could even speak, Naruto's eyes widening again. "How'd you know I was gonna ask that?"

"I think we're linked, Boss. Mentally and all that too. This is kinda cool." The turned around clone said, grinning and taking a few steps away before looking off into a completely different direction before opening her own eyes slowly.

"My own vision is fine, but when you opened your eyes, part of it became a bit blurry. I can see you both, but now I can also see the Cabin out of the corner of your eyes."

"Same here." spoke the second clone with an affirmative nod, getting the mental command to take her own few steps backwards and open her eyes. "Two parts blurry, one part clear. We're clear, the cabin is a bit blurry, I can see the scroll just fine."

"This is both creepy and cool." The original grinned.

They both nodded and suddenly dispersed before Naruto could, once again, command them.

She repeated the process, refining and retuning her chakra and eventually made the amount up to six clones before she was comfortable with her results.

"This is pretty wicked." Naruto nodded, finally deciding on her opinion once she had fixed the technique up. Her vision was clear, she could see in a full circle around herself from her own clones that were facing away, and she could also see the backs of a few she was looking at. "What else can we do?"

"We could experiment with our techniques?" The first one asked.

"You mean like the _Shinra Tensei_, and such?" The second blinked.

"It's a good idea. We've got those two techniques, and with clones, can we use them at the same time?" Number three nodded in thought.

The fourth one held out her palm as a chakra rod erupted from her hand, black like usual, sharpened as well. "Well, we can all do this." She blinked at it a few times before making it disappear back inside of her palm.

"Alright." The fifth one nodded. "Let's see if we can use both at the same time?"

"I call _Shinra Tensei_!" The sixth called out jovially before she bounded a few feet away as the first.

"Fine, I'll be the target with _Bansho Ten'nin_." The first muttered in reply.

The two stood off to the side, away from the rest of the clones and the original Naruto, all of them watching the same thing, getting it from multiple angles was really weird for all of the clones, but they were starting to adapt, and it made things much easier to inspect a technique and watch the chakra flow.

The third tossed in a single kunai between the two and they both spoke at the exact same time, using the same amount of power. The small bladed weapon shot violently through the air and impaled the first clone's hand, traveling fast enough to go right through the elbow before the clone dispersed. Blood and flesh torn apart in a morbidly violent fashion before it all disappeared in an explosion of smoke.

"That felt weird." Naruto grumbled as she shook the hand that hand been pierced, even if it had been a clone, the odd sensation of part of her vision fading away didn't even bother her at all as she quickly made the hand seal for the _Kage Bunshin_ and called it out, another clone appearing right next to her.

"Yeah." They all nodded in agreement.

"So, we can all see what the other sees, we can all feel what the other feels." Naruto was thinking out loud.

"And I know what happened just before I was made." The newest clone said. "It stands to think that our memories are shared too since we all see and feel everything each other does."

"Alright everyone." Naruto capped her hands. "We've got one technique from the scroll down, let's go for some extra credit and get a second...!" One of them jogged over and looked at the scroll before nodding and flopping down at it. Unravelling the scroll more for all to see in their various spots. "Well, the next technique is just a mass amounts of clones."

"Which will be tricky." Responded the newest clone. "Can you imagine seeing things from more than twenty perspectives all at once."

"Could we concentrate like that?" The one at the scroll asked.

"Well, we might as well find out." The second shrugged.

"True." Naruto nodded and all of the clones except for the one at the scroll dispersed. Naruto gave the last clone a few more moments before it dispersed when after putting the scroll down. "Huh. It's easier to remember things when that happens." Naruto blinked a few times and shrugged before she went onto experiment with the next technique, closing her eyes just in case. "_Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

Over a hundred clones appeared at once as only Naruto opened her eyes.

"Hot damn!" One of the new clones called out. "We rock!"

"Alright!" The original Naruto called out. "One by one, we're gonna open our eyes until we can't handle anymore! This technique, is pretty much the same, so it'll be no problem to learn!" She honestly admitted that she could've just told them all mentally, commanding them like that, but yelling was a lot more fun when she had this much adrenaline going from the excitement.

They got to about ten clones before Naruto started to feel odd. At fifteen, she was starting to get a pulsing feeling at the back of her head, and at twenty, she was actually in pain. Twenty-two was the limit at that time as she started to really hurt, and it was enough to make the clones all disperse since they were in pain too.

"Never doing that again." Naruto huffed and fell down onto her back. It'd already been a few hours since she had taken the scroll and hitting the Old Man with her anti-pervert technique. "Alright...time to try out one more..." she panted as she pushed herself up and over to the scroll, going wide-eyed at the third clone technique. "Clones that explode? Oh man...this is going to rock!"

Instead of summoning just one clone, she decided to go with the amount she was most comfortable with, plus one for the exploding one. Seven appeared with one of them dropping in front of the scroll like last time to go over the instructions while one of them moved a little ways away into a bit more of a clearing. The resulting explosion was nothing more than a firecracker going off, causing Naruto to huff in disappointment. She wanted big explosions, dammit!

Though it was those self-same explosions, and thus chakra usage that finally caught Iruka's attention later that evening when the Hokage finally came out of his blood-loss induced state and ordered everyone to find Naruto and bring her back, unharmed. Or else.

It had been almost half a day later from when Naruto had taken the scroll to when that announcement had been made, and Iruka was wondering why exactly Naruto would go and do something like that. He knew his favorite student was pissed for not being able to graduate earlier that day, but to steal the scroll? Using his Chakra Location abilities and his innate chakra sensory abilities, he quickly located the red-haired trouble child, panting on the ground, beaten up and next to a scroll that was rather quite open.

"Naruto!" Iruka called out angrily as he jumped down near his target. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto blinked, huffing on her back, a wild grin on her face. "Haha. I was just about to go looking for you, Nose-bleed-sensei!" Iruka twitched as he watched Naruto get to her feet. He was about to say something when he saw her sheepish grin. "Heyhey, I've learned a few techniques off the scroll."

Iruka blinked at that, looking over his charge a bit and then wondered aloud. "You're kinda beaten up, you know? What were you doing?"

"Never mind any of that." Naruto waved it off. "If I show it to you, you've gotta let me graduate and become a ninja!"

Iruka's eyes narrowed at that. A few thoughts flickering through his head before he tried a different approach and tactic. "Naruto?"

"Yeah, Iruka-sensei?"

"Where'd you get the scroll?" He pointed to the one lying on the ground.

"Oh? That?" Naruto blinked and jogged back to it and wrapped it back up. "Mizuki-sensei told me about it, and this place to practice." Naruto grinned happily. "He said that if I learned something and showed it to either of you, I'd be able to graduate! So come on, lemme show you!"

"...Mizuki?" Iruka stared for about half a second before his senses went mad, lunging at Naruto and pulling the girl away from the sudden kunai that were thrown, nearly having impaled the both of them in the sudden barrage. "What the hell...?"

"Nice job finding him." A voice sneered out as Mizuki appeared in a tree.

"...So that's what's going on." Iruka said in a dead voice, looking between Naruto and Mizuki as he pushed himself up and dusting himself off.

Mizuki smirked for a good three seconds before looking at the red-headed child. "Naruto, give me the scroll!" He barked out.

Naruto just went wide-eyed as she clutched at the scroll. "What the hell? Iruka-sensei? Mizuki-sensei?"

"Naruto." Iruka spoke calmly. "Don't give him the scroll. You need to protect it, consider this your first mission as a ninja, okay?"

"Sensei?" Naruto went wide-eyed, looking at the scroll in her hands before pushing it behind her into the travelling strap she had taken with it, looking between Iruka and Mizuki once more, her goggles still off and narrowing in thought at Mizuki.

"That scroll is dangerous and forbidden." Iruka spoke calmly as he reached up and unzipped his flak-jacket, reaching slowly inside of it. "Mizuki tricked you into grabbing it for him since he wouldn't be able to steal it himself."

"Tricked me?" Naruto's voice went flat. "You used me Mizuki-sensei?" Her eyes flashing angrily.

Mizuki was too far away to note Naruto's eyes, though he did find it odd that the little brat had the goggles off for the first time in several years. "Naruto, Naruto, Naruto..." Mizuki's voice was condescending. "There's really no point in you even having that scroll. In fact, I'll tell you the truth."

"The...truth?" Naruto blinked a few times, looking back between Mizuki and a suddenly scowling Iruka.

"Almost thirteen years ago...You know about the Demon Fox being sealed away, don't you?" Mizuki's voice was full of contempt as he spoke, a sneer on his face.

"Shut it, Mizuki." Iruka suddenly growled out, pulling out a mask from his flak jacket. "You're about the break the law."

"What do I care about laws?" Mizuki asked rhetorically. "I'm here for the scroll, and I'm gone from this pathetic village. Now as I was saying..." Mizuki started up again before Naruto cut in.

"I know all about the Fox." Naruto spoke flatly. "What happened, and where it was sealed." Naruto held up her hands in a single cross shaped seal that she'd been using over and over for the past several hours.

"Tch." Mizuki growled out. "Why couldn't you have just died years ago? I've tried poisoning you twice already, and even used a seal to mess with your chakra earlier today."

"You tried to poison Naruto?" Iruka asked in shock.

Mizuki sneered even harder. "Back at the end of the Demon's second year, and three years ago."

"You're the reason I was dizzy and ended up in the hospital?" Naruto asked, shocked.

"A simple poison the first time." Mizuki shrugged. "It normally kills smaller people after a few hours, and I placed a good bunch of your tests under mild Genjutsu, but that never seemed to do anything. The second time, I used a very lethal venom from some of the more deadly snakes in Training Ground 44. And all it ended up doing was making you sick for a whole month." Mizuki was actually complaining about that?

"You...you made me your victim." Naruto's voice was suddenly flat as chakra started to swirl around her. "I'm no one's victim."

"Naruto, get out of here!" Iruka commanded.

"No!" Naruto shouted in response. "He's mine! No one, and I mean no one makes Naruto Uzumaki a victim!" Her voice was getting deeper and more angry with each passing word. "Your ass is mine, Mizuki-teme! _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

Ten clones appeared from the technique, with three of them having their eyes closed once the smoke disappeared, three of them taking up a protection detail in a triangle behind Naruto while the other three did the exact same in front of Naruto. Iruka watched in slight awe that his favorite student could do the _Kage Bunshin_ like it was nothing, but was straining to try and make a regular clone earlier this morning. He was wondering why two of the clones in the back closed their eyes, and then noticed that the two in the very front opened their own eyes when they turned to look at him. Those ringed indigo eyes were mesmerising as they smiled at the Chuunin before running off towards Mizuki and the tree he was on.

"Pfft. So you can finally make some clones huh? That's no big deal at all, you think I'm some pasty-faced civilian? You're as good as dead!" Mizuki mocked and jumped down to meet the two clones. Ignoring the very feral grins on their faces as the first one lunged at him, barely missing off to the side. "Hah!" Mizuki grinned triumphantly.

In the middle of the lunge, Mizuki didn't notice the clone that dived at him smile as it closed its eyes nor did he hear the faint one word that it whispered. "Boom."

Mizuki was flung through the air as he was near the center of the explosion, right into the waiting arms of the next clone who's arms were wide open, jumping at the Chuunin as he himself was in midair and repeating the single word as it latched itself around Mizuki, another explosion tossing the white-haired Chuunin violently down onto the ground.

"Tch." Naruto grumbled. "My explosions aren't good enough yet."

"I'll get you, you little shit." Mizuki growled out from the ground pushing himself to his feet, grabbing the Fuuma Shuriken from his back, twirling it as he got up.

"Hah, you can't touch me, teme." Naruto spoke with a smirk as she nodded her head, one of the three frontal clones stepping forth and raising a single hand.

"_Bansho Ten'nin_." It stated softly, pulling the Fuuma shuriken from Mizuki's grip rather violently, cutting into the Chuunin's arm along the bicep. It flew through the air, but the clone dropped its hand and the Shuriken swiftly flew into the ground.

Another clone of the frontal three ran up in the process of the shuriken flying through the air, getting close enough to Mizuki as he was cursing to land a few harsh blows to the man's stomach over the course of several seconds, even going so far as to kick the man in the ground and kneeing him the face when he lurched forward. "Time's up." It spoke with a grin. "_Shinra Tensei_." It intoned as Mizuki was flung backwards in an instant into a nearby tree, crack his skull pretty badly against the bark before falling limply to the ground.

"Fuck you." The original Naruto spat out. "I'm no one's victim, you asshole."

Seeing how as Mizuki was out for the count, Iruka slipped his mask back into his flak jacket and zipped it back up, giving Naruto an odd look. "You learned the _Kage Bunshin_ and the _Bunshin Daibakuha_?"

"Yeah." Naruto said, rubbing the back of her head absently as the rest of her clones slowly made their way around Mizuki, making sure the traitor wasn't getting up., the final extra clone exploding just for good measure to knock the Chuunin completely out before the remaining clones tied Mizuki up. "I uhh...well..."

"Yes, Naruto?" Iruka blinked a few times, watching the clones work without orders with a bit of intrigue on his face.

"I'm really sorry." She bowed politely. "If I had known this wasn't just a test I...well..."

Iruka smiled and dropped his hand on his hand on Naruto's head, ruffling her spiky red hair. "Why don't we just go back to the village and report into Hokage-sama, okay?"

"Alright!" Naruto cheered before frowning a little. "...Wait, does this mean I actually graduate?"

"Well...you did stop a traitor." Iruka mused, watching the clones heft up Mizuki on their shoulders and carry him like it was nothing. "And you did complete the mission you set forth for in the Academy..." Iruka grinned as he caught Naruto's startled gaze as she looked up at him. "Really, Naruto-chan, I'm your sensei, you really didn't think I could tell?"

"Aw. Fuck." Naruto swore and look downcast.

"Language, young lady!" Iruka said sternly, before busting up laughing. "Now put your goggles back on." Iruka said with a smile, slowly walking back to her. "You and Sasuke did a good job of it though."

"How'd you know?" Naruto frowned as she pulled up her goggles along with all her clones, having to shift Mizuki around while doing as such.

Iruka smiled gently down at Naruto. "I wouldn't be a good teacher if I couldn't. You did manage to fool everyone though. You did what you set out to do...now why don't we get back and I'll take you for some ramen?"

"I gotta go tell Sasuke first though..." Naruto fidgeted.

"You can go get her and tell her the good news as well. Itachi would like to congratulate you as well, I'm sure." Iruka said grandly.

They continued on in silence though, until they made their way back to the village and towards Hokage tower after dropping Mizuki off with a couple ANBU. Even Naruto could tell they were laughing silently at the trussed up traitor.

All in all, the rest of the night was rather well received. Naruto was officially declared a Genin with both her missions added to her files, along with Sasuke's successful infiltration as well. Iruka treated both girls to their favorite Ramen and sent the two of them off for the night before retiring for the night himself. Idly noting that he forgot to ask Naruto about those other two techniques the little girl had used.

He'd just have to ask Hokage-sama the next day...

* * *

_Pain is a Weakness.  
__Weaknesses always turn to Nothing.  
__Pain is an Anger.  
__Angers lead to Idiocy_


	4. Loneliness and Rage

"Naruto, what are you doing here? Today's only for graduates."

"What, can't you see my headband?"

Naruto grinned widely as she jerked her thumb towards headband that was wrapped around her forehead just fitting snugly above her favorite pair of black goggles. She felt great, admittedly, especially after the last week. Dealing with Mizuki, and then with her awesome photo, and then Konohamaru, and teaching him a few things and parting with some words of wisdom before exposing that jerk Ebisu for what he really was.

"Don't you think it looks good on me?" She asked Shikamaru with an even wider grin, unaware that Hinata Hyuuga was also staring at her and mentally congratulating her secret 'crush' that 'he' had passed.

If only she knew.

Naruto's good mood didn't even go down when she heard Ino and Sakura shouting at the door, trying to figure out who won and got in the room first. Of course, since it was a usual spectacle, Naruto was paying attention to keep up her act. Though, like usual, it was a tie. The two of them panting in near exhaustion, which was somewhat pathetic in of itself, and suddenly arguing over whom was in first. As usual, Naruto decided to keep up pretences and wildly cheered for Sakura, even when she finally made her way over and demanded Naruto move.

Normally, Naruto would've acquiesced to her demand, but she was finally on the last day of her time at the Academy and didn't even respond when Sakura stood next to her. "Move it Naruto!" She finally snapped.

Naruto finally twisted his head and spoke with a wide grin on her face, completely at odds with the way she spoke. "No."

That was enough to shut the entire class up.

A vein suddenly throbbed violently on Sakura's head. "I said move, baka! I want to sit next to Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke of course, was staring out the window next to her seat and ignoring everyone, her hands clasped in front of her face in her usual sitting pose. Unseen was a smirk hidden behind those hands.

"Well, I don't want to move." Naruto replied archly. Sakura cocked back her fist, intent on pulverizing the Dead Last. Her fist swung violently and Naruto just leaned back in the chair with a faint yawn. "Besides, Sasuke would rather sit next to me, isn't that right, teme?"

"Dobe." Sasuke responded lowly, not even looking away from the window.

"See?" Naruto responded with a grin, this time leaning forward to evade Sakura's next punch.

Everyone watched in awe and amazement, it was the first time Naruto avoided being hit by Sakura, much less twice in a row. What had happened in the past week? Especially since Naruto had originally failed. What was going on here?

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!" Sakura finally screeched out, not even noticing the fact that everyone was staring at her, including Ino who had stolen the seat right behind Sasuke.

Before Naruto could respond, Sasuke finally spoke up, turning away from the window to stare at Sakura. The pink haired girl froze and got hearts in her eyes as she swooned under Sasuke's gaze. "Haruno. You annoy me. Go away."

Sakura shattered to pieces.

Naruto looked down and over at her for a moment before twisting back to Sasuke. "Bit harsh, innit?"

"Her voice grates on my ears." Sasuke responded simply, twisting her neck to look back at Ino. "...And don't you start either, you're just as bad."

Ino looked a bit flushed and embarrassed, but she held her ground, just giving her crush a faint nod.

Naruto barely held back from letting out her own girlish giggle.

That was when Iruka decided to step in and look impassively over the oddly quiet room. "Since I don't have to tell you to shut up, I'll just tell you all to find a seat and _SIT DOWN!_" Iruka's usual Genjutsu involving a big head came into play and everyone swiftly responded to the order, even Sakura gathered herself up and sat down next to Naruto, disappointed that she wasn't next to Sasuke, regardless of her being told off.

"Alright." Iruka coughed into his fist. "First, I'd like to congratulate you all upon making it this far into your beginning Ninja career. As of now, you are all Genin and represent Konoha, don't forget it." A faint smile creased his brow. "I'm not going to give you all a long lecture on what you need to do or should do, but still, I'm proud of all of you for making it this far." Iruka's gaze was on Naruto whom responded with a sharp nod and a wry grin. "There are some minor details that I need to finish off with. First, congratulations, Sasuke Uchiha for making Rookie of the Year."

The class all gave Sasuke a faint round of applause, though the majority of the girls started cheering madly.

"Sorry to say, Ino, but Sasuke edged you out on just a few minor things, but you did come a very close second." Ino blushed brightly, playing with the long lock of blonde hair that covered one side of her face. "And lastly, before I call out your teams, I'd like to congratulate two students, whom shall remain anonymous, for completing their Academy long mission. Hokage-sama has approved of what you've done and you can end your mission here and now if you so desire. He already has my report, and yes, I did know in advance, and would like yours at your earliest convenience, which will probably be later tomorrow."

That caught a smattering of mutters while Naruto looked a bit shell-shocked at that. "Ne, ne, Sensei, what do you mean...you knew?"

Iruka smirked at the question while the rest looked on in interest. "I wasn't always a Chuunin you know. They don't have a single Jounin teaching at the Academy, and I rather like it here." His voice was oddly mild and self-satisfactory.

"Awesome!" Naruto grinned wildly.

"Now, beyond that, let's announce the teams. Team One will consist of Ami..."

Naruto tuned Iruka out as she frantically went over her the details in her head, wondering if the Old Man told Iruka-sensei or if he had figured it out himself. Naruto looked over at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye, glad her goggles masked that and noticed the faint bit of shock on Sasuke's own face. It took several seconds to smooth and by then, Naruto's attention was back on Iruka.

"Team Seven will consist of Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and..."

"Woohoo!" Sakura's voice cut Iruka off, while almost all the other girls groaned in annoyance.

"Tch." Sasuke's face schooled from shock into annoyance at that singular announcement.

"...Naruto Uzumaki."

"Yes!" Naruto cheered out.

"Damn." Sakura was suddenly depressed looking while Sasuke's head shook.

Iruka laughed a little went on "Team Eight will consist of Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and of course, Akamaru."

"Woof." Akamaru's bark responded through the class, glad to be not forgotten.

"That's right, buddy!" Kiba said boisterously.

Naruto shook her head at that, completely missing Team Nine and snickering as Team Ten was announced since it left the last three members of the classroom.

"...Consists of Chouji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and lastly, Ino Yamanaka."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow at the people on all the teams and then rolled her eyes after a moment. She finally looked back outside of the classroom window as Iruka finished up his last class. "Again, congratulations of graduating, your new Jounin sensei's shall be here after lunch to come and grab you all. It was good teaching you, and I hope you all be productive in your new careers."

With that, a bell went off, signalling it was lunch time and he left the room.

* * *

_This is the end  
__It's time my friend...  
__The lies are done  
__We're no longer on the run_

* * *

Everyone was gone except for Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. They had also been waiting for couple hours and were annoyed to no end.

"This is getting ridiculous." Naruto finally complimented, highly annoyed at what was going on.

"Are you sure this isn't some kind of joke?" Sakura finally asked.

"We all passed." Sasuke responded.

"Are you sure about that?" Sakura retorted mildly. "I'm sure I remember Naruto failing."

"I took a makeup exam and passed later in the night. Someone was messing with my chakra." Naruto responded absently. "It helped that I beat up a Chuunin traitor."

"You?" Sakura snorted unbelievingly. "You beat up a Chuunin? I find that hard to believe, baka."

Naruto rolled her eyes, though it was lost on Sakura due to the goggles. "Why do you think Mizuki wasn't here today?"

"Ah..." Sakura raised her hand to comment and then frowned, glaring at Naruto for a moment.

"It's true." Sasuke finally said once again, stretching her back, a loud crack reverberating from her location.

"Really?" Of course Sakura would believe Sasuke. Pfft. Fan girls. "If you say so, Sasuke-kun."

Naruto snickered at that, noticing the mildly annoyed look Sasuke was giving off. If only the pink haired girl knew...

Regardless of their bickering, Naruto was finally getting bored, and a bored Naruto took drastic measures. After all, Naruto did get bored enough one day to start planning to paint the Hokage Monument. She searched her surroundings and grinned nastily as she took up the chalk brush from the black board and snagged one of the stools. "They'll get it now." Naruto grumbled with a grin as she started to set up her prank.

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing now?" Sakura shrilled out.

"It's just part of what it is they deserve, leaving us hanging like this for so long. It's bullshit!" Naruto shouted back.

"Naruto." Sasuke's own voice barked out. "Calm down." The low tone was starting to go away as Naruto eyed his best friend oddly.

"Fine." She growled out as she hopped down from her chair. "It's still bullshit."

"Watch your language!" Sakura shouted.

"Bullshit, fuck, bastard, whore in a bloody bucket." Naruto responded simply, obviously annoyed.

"Tch." Sasuke grunted out while Sakura looked highly offended. "Civilians."

"Well, whatever." Naruto responded airily. "When we're done today, I think I might start wearing something less..." she trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"Orange?" Sakura replied blandly.

"Boyish?" Sasuke asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I wouldn't go that far." Naruto responded demurely.

"Boyish?" Sakura asked with a frown, obviously confused.

Before she could get an answer to her confused state, the door opened up and the chalk brush fell to the ground, a head peaking in after it. Silver hair was wildly all over the place, defying gravity and everything, despite how long it was. The person whom entered was obviously a woman, even if her face was buried between an odd orange book. "My first impression of most of you is..." she trailed off.

"Yes?" Sakura asked, her earlier question forgotten.

"Hm..." Sasuke responded with a couple blinks, looking at the Jounin.

"I know you!" Naruto pointed out with an extended hand.

"...I don't like you." She finished off, not even looking up from her book. She was an odd one, once she was in full view. Tall and lanky, yet obviously female, wearing standard Jounin attire with flak jacket, the only thing different from the average Jounin was that she had a facemask on that covered the bottom half of her face, and her headband was worn askew, slanting over and covering her left eye. "Up on the roof in five minutes." She said before disappearing as a puff of smoke.

"You know our Jounin Sensei?" Sasuke asked archly, stretching this way and that.

"Yeah, yeah, after my fifth birthday, like, the day after, I met her." Naruto responded happily. "She's so cool!"

Sakura blinked, still obviously confused and flustered at the entire ordeal. Something was very wrong here and she didn't know what it was, and it really bothered her. "Whatever." Sakura finally cut in, ignoring her thoughts. "Let's just get up there and meet our new Sensei."

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look as the three of them left the room, making their way to the roof where they found their new sensei leaning against the rails, still having her nose buried in her orange book. The three of them sat down on the steps with Sasuke in the middle and waited a few more minutes before the Jounin deigned to speak.

"Let's see, why don't you introduce yourselves?" She finally asked. "Likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies...you know, that sort of thing?"

"We already know each other." Naruto deadpanned, rolling her eyes beneath her goggles.

"No need to roll your eyes at me." The Jounin responded, finally putting her book away. "And it's a team building exercise, just go with it, Naruto."

Sakura piped up, though oddly wondering how their Jounin could tell Naruto's eyes rolled. "Why don't you show us how it's done?"

"Hmm..." The Jounin mused, scratching her chin idly. "Well. My name is Kakashi Hatake. You don't really need to know my likes and dislikes. As for my dream? Well..." Kakashi trailed off. "I have some hobbies."

"All we found out is her name, isn't it?" Sakura turned and asked both Naruto and Sasuke who just nodded in agreement.

"Well, that's it for me." Kakashi's eye seemed to turn up in a smile as she gestured towards the three new Genin. "Why don't you go first, Naruto?"

"Ah, well, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like..." She trailed off, wondering exactly what she was supposed to say for this kind of stuff. It really was harder than she originally thought. "...Ramen. I dislike the time waiting for Ramen to cook. I like the Old Man's hat, and it's my dream and ambition to take it from him one day and become Hokage." She nodded resolutely at that. "I also like my eyes." Was added as an afterthought before she tapped her bottom lip. "My hobby...'eh...Gardening is kinda fun, so are pranks."

Kakashi nodded and let out a small laugh. "So that's how you've turned out, huh? You next." She nodded towards Sakura.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like...well, the person I like is..." A squeal escaped from her lips as she stared at Sasuke, not noticing the Uchiha's look of annoyance or Kakashi's immense look of amusement. "And my hobby is...well...my dream it to...Kyaa!" Another squeal of happiness causing the other two to shudder.

"And...what do you hate?"

"Naruto-baka!"

Kakashi shook her head and snorted, mentally cursing the fact that she had a fan girl on her team. "Alright, you in the middle."

"Sasuke Uchiha. There are a bunch of things I hate and not much I really like." The Uchiha said from her usual sitting and thinking pose, elbows on knees and hands covering her face as it allowed a little bit of her voice to distort and sound deeper. "I also have an ambition that I have no intention to leave as just a dream, and that's to kill a certain someone."

There was a faint pause as Naruto edged away. "You're not referring to me, are you?" She asked as a joke.

"...To kill a couple certain some ones." Sasuke responded with a hidden smirk.

"So cool..." Sakura murmured out.

"S'what I thought." Kakashi also mumbled under her breath.

"Sasuke!" Naruto whined out. "That's not funny."

"I thought it was hilarious." Sasuke responded absently.

"Alright!" Kakashi chirped mock cheerfully. "You all have unique personalities, I like that. First, we're going to begin a mission starting tomorrow."

"Hai!" Naruto responded happily. "What kind of mission is that?"

"First, we're going to do something that only the four of us can do. Some survival exercises, you know? Some training."

"Nani?"

"Survival training?"

Sakura frowned slightly. "Why are we going to train if it's a mission? We had plenty of that training at the Academy."

"It's not that kind of training." Kakashi's smirk was visible from behind her mask.

"Well? What kind is it then?" Naruto blinked from behind her goggles, pausing when Kakashi started to...cackle?

"Well, you're all going to freak when you hear this." She leaned forward, placing a hand on her face while resting her elbow on an extended knee. "Out of all the graduates, only nine are going to become actual Genin. The other's will be either sent back to the academy or dropped from the Shinobi Program. In other words, this training is very hard with a dropout rate of at least two thirds."

Sasuke was the only one who didn't react to that news, having known about it for years before. Naruto went slack jawed, and Sakura clammed up and actually looked annoyed.

"See? You three...well, at least two of you are freaking out!" Kakashi let out a giggle this time.

"No way! No way in hell! I went through so much shit last week, and now there's this on top of it? What the hell was that final exam for then?" Naruto started to shriek madly, her voice rising in pitch.

Kakashi wasn't even looking at them, now watching a bird fly by. Hm. "That little thing? It's just a measure to pick out those who are qualified."

"What? Seriously? Then how did Rock Lee pass last year? I know he can't use chakra at all and he passed and is on a team." Naruto was very put out with that.

"Ah, his sensei is a bit of an odd case." Kakashi said in a cool tone. She was still highly annoyed with Gai, even after all these years. "Anyway." Tch, best to get off that train of thought. "I'm going to determine whether you pass or fail tomorrow at Training Ground Three. Bring your equipment and meet me there at Five A.M.."

Naruto was starting to twitch slightly, very nervous, and glared death at Kakashi. Sakura actually looked determined with a hint of enjoyment at the prospect of it all, though, probably from the fact that she was going to be with 'Sasuke-kun'. Sasuke's response was just a typical snort as the Uchiha looked away, though her hands were clenched together until her knuckles went white.

"Well, see you tomorrow then." Kakashi turned around, her hand lifting into the air and waving before she half paused and turned her head to look at them once more. "Oh yeah, don't eat breakfast, you might throw up if you do." The Jounin disappeared off the edge of the rooftop with another wave while the three blinked and watched in amazement.

"Fuck." Naruto swore out loud. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. We need to do this. There's no way in hell I'm going back to that shithole!"

"I'm in agreement with Naruto for once." Sakura mumbled. "We need to work together to impress Kakashi-sensei and pass."

"It shouldn't be a problem." Sasuke smirked arrogantly. "This was the last day, no more hiding anyway."

Sakura blinked. "Hiding?"

Naruto nodded. "That's true."

"Gonna ditch the goggles?"

"Guys?"

"Maybe. I have to ask."

"Guys?"

"No one'll be up close enough anyway."

"Guys...?"

"That's true. I'll have to ask the Old Man."

"...Guys?"

"I don't see how you get away with that."

"Kami-dammit..."

"Well, I...uhh, dunno actually."

"GUYS!"

Naruto and Sasuke paused their conversation, looking at Sakura oddly.

"What?"

"Are you going to tell me what you two idiots are talking about?"

Naruto started to giggle insanely at that. "Bwuahah, she called you an idiot."

Sasuke snorted. "She called you an idiot too. Idiot."

Sakura just sighed. "Well?"

"You'll find out later Sakura-chan." Naruto responded with a grin. "But first, I need to go shopping! I need new clothes."

"Shopping?" Sasuke suddenly looked intrigued. "Hey, that's a good idea."

Sakura suddenly paused once more, the dead last, and her hottie crush, were talking about shopping? "Oh dear Kami above." Sakura suddenly murmured. "I get it now...you...you're gay!" She pointed at Sasuke with an accusing finger.

Sasuke blinked at that and Naruto busted up giggling once more. "Oh, Oh, Sakura-chan, don't ever change...Bwuahah. That's the best reaction yet!"

Sasuke couldn't hold back her blush and she started to pout a little. "You try being a badass for four years and see how well you can hold up."

"I don't need to try, Sasuke." Naruto rejoined and then looked at Sakura with a tilt of her head. "She should be in on it, don't ya think, we're going to be a team."

"True." Sasuke said, eyeing Sakura up and down. "Even if she is a civvie."

"Alright. Sakura-chan, we're going shopping!"

Sakura stood there for a moment, completely dumbfounded before she fell back on the steps, sitting down heavily. "Yeahbuwha?"

"I think you broke her, dobe." Sasuke said with a giggle.

"Stuff it, teme." Naruto grumbled and then shifted over to Sakura and waved a hand in front of the girl's face. "Heyo in there? Naruto to Sakura-chan, are you still awake?"

It took a moment, but the pink haired Kunoichi snapped out of it suddenly, her green eyes going very wide all of a sudden. "Oh fine, I'll go shopping with you two." She grumbled a little under her breath at that. Her crush was gay! Why did Sasuke-kun have to be gay? He was supposed to be smitten with her looks and take her on a date, not go...shopping!

"Awesome." Naruto grinned. "Where to first?"

"I need a new bra." Sasuke suddenly declared, watching Sakura very carefully for the shorter Kunoichi reaction. It took a few seconds before Sakura took the words in, mouthing them for a few seconds.

Sakura's eyes promptly rolled into the back of her head and she passed out.

* * *

_Bittersweet memories...  
__It felt just like yesterday  
__We told you our secrets  
__Now you tell us yours_

* * *

It was several hours later and the three of them had several bags next to each of their stools and they were all sitting at Ichiraku's. Sakura had a bowl forced on her, despite her protests she was on a diet, though she had come to realize that the person she was dieting for was actually a girl, and the thought of dating another girl was a bit too much for her civilian mind. Their shopping trip was rather eventful in that Sakura had her mind blown more than twice that day so far, of course, her first accusation when she snapped out of her faint was to accuse Naruto of turning Sasuke into a cross-dressed. They thought it over for a second and Sasuke eventually did agree with her. After all, she was wearing boy's clothes, wasn't she?

That set off a round of questioning that lasted almost thirty minutes before Sakura demanded proof, so Sasuke just lifted her shirt up to show off the wrappings around her chest. They were only twelve after all. Or rather, Sakura was thirteen while the others were still twelve.

"So, let me get this straight." Sakura finally said, going over everything just so she had it in her head. "You both pretended to be boys in the Academy, because you heard Kunoichi classes were boring."

"Well, I was told to pretend to be different, and I thought, being a boy, a dumb, stupid boy was probably my best bet." Naruto said with a shrug, accepting her second bowl from Ayame without realizing it. "Some people still knew who I was I guess, Mizuki-teme said he poisoned me twice and...well...stuff." She finished lamely.

"I told her how the graduates were paired together too." Sasuke put in smoothly. "She pretended to be dumb while I worked my ass off trying to take the top spot."

"...And that probably wouldn't have happened if you were stuck in some of the Kunoichi classes, instead you got more sparring." Sakura nodded. "Why all the secrecy though, I'm sure you could've just asked."

"I couldn't have." Naruto put in a small voice as she ate her ramen. "Orphan, remember?"

"It was an exercise in stealth." Sasuke nodded.

"..And reconnaissance and to gauge the status of the Academy Instructors." Ayame added in cheerfully. "Did you two get paid for that yet?"

"I totally forgot about that part!" Naruto exclaimed, blinking rapidly behind her goggles. "Thanks Ayame-nee." A faint pause. "How did you remember that?"

"I've got a mind for details like that." Ayame said with a nervous chuckle. "Speaking of which, how is your brother, Sasuke-chan?"

"He's finally over the worst of it. He and Jiraiya-sama are going to go look for Tsunade-sama after the next Chuunin Exams we hold. Whatever that guy did, it was pretty bad." Sasuke murmured.

"Is that when...?" Sakura asked softly, only getting a sharp nod in response. "Hopefully he turns out okay then."

"Itachi-nii is really tough!" Naruto shouted with an over exaggerated nod. "Though, I really miss Iris-nee, Dolphin-nii, and Inu-nee." Naruto pouted faintly. "I saw Dolphin-nii then, but...none of them since, I hope they're okay."

"I'm sure they're just fine, Naruto-chan." Ayame said with a pleasant smile. "I bet they'll come see you when you pass tomorrow if they're around."

"You really think so?" Naruto instantly cheered up.

"It's a sure-fire bet." Ayame nodded in agreement, getting a chuckle from Teuchi in the back. "But you three should probably get back home, it's getting late and you need to be up early for tomorrow don't you?"

Sasuke and Sakura both went wide-eyed and nodded their thanks, each dumping a bit of money for their bowls before grabbing up their respective bags and hightailing it out of the Ramen Stand, leaving Naruto to finish up her bowl and deposit her own change, waving off a thanks before disappearing off down a different road from the other two.

"Kids these days." Ayame said with a faint laugh as she gathered up the bowls, dropping them gently into the sink as she heard the next set of customers come in. She shook her head slightly as she started to wash the four bowls.

"Ayame! More visitors for you!" Teuchi called from the front.

"Be there in a moment, Dad!" She called back, finishing up the bowls and putting them up to dry before walking back to the front, a hazel eyebrow arching up as she saw her three newest customers. "Haven't seen all three of you here in a while."

Sitting down in the middle of the stools was Kakashi, flanked by Itachi on her left and Iruka on her right, Itachi looked impassive like always while Iruka had a bit of a blush on his features. Kakashi herself had her nose buried in her orange book like usual.

"Maa maa." Kakashi shrugged. "Been busy failing wannabes and going on dates with Anko."

Iruka snorted slightly. "You call that busy?"

"Not everyone has the patience to deal with children like you do, Iruka." Itachi pointed out in his usual monotone. "I'll just have some onigiri if you have any left."

"Miso for me." Kakashi said without looking up from her book.

"Miso with Pork." Iruka concluded the three orders with his standard choice.

Several minutes later their orders were all up and ready, Kakashi finally slipping her book away with a faint sigh. "Thanks Ayame." She finally murmured.

"No problem, Kakashi." Ayame said with a faint smile. "How're you and Anko doing?"

"Off and on." The silver-haired Jounin spoke after shrugging. "Our schedules are going to conflict something fierce when and if I take this team."

Itachi arched an eyebrow at that while Iruka chuckled faintly. "I think they'll pass even your test."

"You just missed them actually." Ayame said with another smile. "They've already let their team mate in on their little secret. They went shopping and everything."

Iruka snorted at that. "You have no idea how hard it was for me to not laugh every time Naruto or Sasuke went to the bathroom these last couple of years. It was torture, I tell you."

Itachi shook his head, slowly eating his onigiri. "They make a good team."

That caught Kakashi's attention. "Already? I know they've been acting throughout the Academy, but all I get are crap reports going by their actual grades in the Academy. Bunch of garbage."

Itachi nodded faintly, turning away so Kakashi could have her privacy as she quickly ate her Miso Soup. "Last week, you know the Monument? Naruto didn't work alone. I watched the both of them grab the supplies and Naruto purposely took the heat while Sasuke was up top, making sure no one was watching. She didn't notice me." Itachi's voice was soft, but had a hint of pride despite the blatant law breaking his little sister was doing.

"You're going to have your work cut out for you tomorrow. They might actually listen to your suggestion about not eating, and they will show up at five in the morning, but they already know what being a team is about." Ayame said faintly. "They've both been here enough when talking about it, and they've been planning this for years."

"It's just Sakura I'm worried about." Iruka added in. "She's...well..."

"A fan girl of the highest order, but she's not into girls." Ayame remarked. "She was rather green when she finally realized she was crushing on a girl."

Iruka nodded and chuckled, scratching at the scar over the bridge of his nose. "Remind me to take a mission out of the village before Ino Yamanaka finds out."

Kakashi rolled her visible eye and pulled her book back out, burying her face inside of it once more. "We'll see tomorrow afternoon then." She faintly remarked.

"Regardless of if is she passes..." Ayame started to say, grimacing a little. "She misses her band of escorts something fierce. I'm getting my gear ready for tomorrow to go say hi. Naruto really does miss her Inu-nee the most."

Kakashi actually looked up from her book, her eye showing off how incredulous that sounded to her before her features softened and all of them could see she was smiling sadly despite the mask. "Maybe it's time I start taking responsibility."

"Kami knows Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama haven't." Ayame snorted derisively. "Ever since Orochimaru-sama fled the village almost a decade ago, Jiraiya-sama is never here."

"Well, he did watch over Naruto until then." Itachi put in gently. "You have to look at it from Jiraiya-sama's point of view. He didn't start writing those books," Itachi pointed at Kakashi's current orange novel, "until after that happened. He lost his prized student whom he thought of as a son, and his best friend turned out to be a traitor only a couple years later."

"True. One of my subordinates on one of my last few missions had just become an ANBU; he was one of _those_ kids." Kakashi said with faint shake of her head, putting the book away with a sigh. She knew she'd have to actually socialize.

They all nodded in agreement to that spoken sentiment.

With a watchful eye, he waited until Ayame disappeared into the back. "Teuchi-san." Itachi suddenly spoke up now that the three of them had finished eating. "Would it be possible for you to excuse Ayame for the rest of the evening?"

That caused the rest of them to stare at Itachi for a moment, Teuchi coming up and looking down at the youngest person at his stand. He stared for a good moment, watching the stoic Uchiha before finally giving a nod, more to himself than anything. "Are you asking my daughter on a date, boy?"

Itachi suddenly and oddly, looked very nervous while both Kakashi and Iruka looked on with interest while Ayame was in the back cleaning. "Ah..." Itachi faintly nodded. "Yes, sir."

Now normally, Teuchi kept his eyes near closed, pretty much squinting at everything because it gave his face a cheerful outlook, it was all well practiced since he was a businessman at heart, but he finally opened one eye to stare directly at the Uchiha heir for another steady moment, his single eye gazing directly into Itachi's face causing the teen to start sweating. "Took you long enough." Teuchi finally grunted and stepped back, his face reverting back to normal as he nodded once again to himself. "Ayame, you're done for the night!"

'Huh? I am?" Ayame came back out with a towel, drying her hands. "We don't close for the next few hours."

"Ayame," Teuchi began with a faint laugh. "I can still handle this place by myself for a few years yet. Go hang out with your friends for a few hours. You haven't done that in a while."

Ayame smiled and nodded her head happily, looking to her old squad with a faint smile. "You mind stopping by my place so I can get changed?"

"No problem." Itachi spoke up first. It seemed today was turning out to be a lot better than he had ever hoped.

* * *

_I want to breathe...  
__You hold me under the surface  
__I want to believe...  
__You just won't let me go_

* * *

They each came from three different directions, Naruto from the East, Sakura from the North, and Sasuke from the West. Sakura and Naruto both seemed very tired while Sasuke looked wide awake and very alert. There were on time as they each greeted each other, Five AM exactly.

Sakura was dressed very similar to what she normally wore in the Academy, but with a weapon's pouch and shuriken holster. She also now wore a pair of fingerless gloves and she had her pink hair up in a quick upper ponytail that also had several senbon sticking out of it.

Sasuke's own clothing was slightly different as well. Since she no longer was dressing like a boy, the overly large shirt with ridiculous collar was gone and replaced with something a lot slimmer. It was a darker blue than what she normally wore and still had the Uchiha emblem on the back. It was nothing fancy, just something she could easily move around in. Her white shorts were now gone and replace with a white skirt and bicycle shorts that no longer went past her knee but still had the wrap on her right leg that held her weapon pouch, she also had it replicated on her left leg as well. There was also a concealed pocket on the back of her shirt that she could store things against the small of her back.

Naruto's outfit was the most changed. She no longer wore that horrid jumpsuit that everyone seemed to rag on. The jacket been replaced with a different jacket, a black jacket nonetheless. It still had orange on it, in stripes along the arms and a tribal pattern along the back that surrounded the traditional red swirl on all the clothes she wore. It was left open and unzipped and inside the other two girls could see it was lined with a multitude of pockets and pouches that held several miscellaneous items. Underneath the jacket, Naruto wore a black tube top to cover her chest and the rest of it was mesh. The pants had been replaced with slimmer and tighter pair of black shorts that were even shorter than Sasuke's own skirt. She had bandages wrapped just above her knees and was seemingly copying Sasuke's double weapon pouches, just smaller variants since her legs were slimmer and smaller than Sasuke's own. Naruto had also kept her hair spiky like usual and the ponytail at the base of her skull was just long enough to bunch up her hair. That was too heavy to spike up.

The biggest change was that she also no longer wore her black goggles around her face and had been completely discarded and left at home. Her eyes were barely open as it was, so neither of the other girls commented on the change as each eyed each other with a bit of speculation.

Each approving of the changes as everything was more professional than before, even if both Sasuke and Sakura snorted and laughed at the orange tribal decoration on the back of Naruto's jacket.

"How long have we been here?" Naruto finally asked.

"It's almost lunch time." Sakura grimaced slightly.

"Our Jounin-sensei sucks." Sasuke muttered.

"I'm starving." Naruto whimpered. "If she doesn't show up soon, I'll...I'll..."

Sakura turned and stared at the smallest of the three. "Pass out?"

"...Yeah."

"Hn."

"Seriously? You're still doing that?"

"It's a force of habit, shut up."

"Sure thing, teme."

"Quit it you two!" Sakura finally cut in.

Naruto started to whimper a little. "Seriously, this is the longest I've gone without food in years."

"I'm sure you'll manage." Sasuke grunted, trying to ignore her own hunger. "Now quit talking about it."

Sakura was suddenly glad she was used to this, having been on a diet for the past month. She wasn't nearly as affected as either Sasuke or Naruto, but she did wonder why Naruto was so short if she ate every few hours. She was rather slim too, having almost a pixie look to her now that she wasn't pretending to be a boy. She threw those thoughts away as her Inner Self started to get pissed off. "Maybe she forgot?"

"She's pretty dumb then." Sasuke instantly retorted.

Of course, that's exactly when Kakashi walked into the clearing. "Such nice things you say about me."

"You're late!" Naruto and Sakura both shrieked out.

"Yare yare..." Kakashi trailed off with a smile, looking her team over. "A black cat crossed my path so I..."

"Liar!" Naruto and Sakura both exclaimed at the same time.

"Heh." Kakashi smiled again as she walked over to the wooden stumps. "Do you have permission for that, Naruto?" She suddenly asked, noting the lack of goggles.

"Yeah. The Old Man said it was fine for this." Naruto crossed her arms angrily. "Me becoming a Genin was technically a field promotion, so nyah!"

"Perhaps, perhaps..." Kakashi nodded in agreement and let out a small laugh. "But that doesn't mean anything to me. In this field, I am the Boss."

Naruto looked instantly downfallen and kicked the ground a few times with her sandals. "Stingy."

With another eye smile, as it were, Kakashi pulled out a small clock and set it on the stump before turning back and looking at her three wannabe Genin. "It's set for noon. You have until then to take these off of me and pass." Kakashi pulled out two bells from her pocket that were tied to a small red string. "If you want to pass, you'll need to take one of these from me."

"And what happens if we don't?"

"Then you fail."

That silenced everyone as the three girls looked back and forth between each other with wide eyes.

Sakura was the first to speak up. "But there's only two bells."

"Yep." Kakashi smiled again. "At least one of you is going to fail and be sent back to the Academy, even you Naruto. Your field promotion means nothing to me." Kakashi's voice was nonchalant and it was pissing the trio of girls off something fierce. "And as an added bonus, whoever doesn't get a bell will be tied to one of these stumps as everyone else eats lunch." The thought of food was what pushed all three over the edge and now they were looking at each other with hostility. Kakashi sighed faintly at that, being rather disappointed, knowing full and well that this was another team that was just going to fail. Oh well, best to just go through the motions anyway so she could get back and report to Hokage-sama.

"Alright the three of you. Its best to come at me with the intent to kill, otherwise you won't get anything from me. You don't want to fail now, do you?" Kakashi asked the last bit chidingly and was faintly amused

Naruto was starting to get pissed and she reached down with her right hand, pulling out a kunai so violently that she started twirling it in her hand before grasping it fully. She was ready to charge and stab at Kakashi before she was suddenly stopped with a hand on top of her head and her arm bent back. The kunai was being faintly pressed into the back of her head and she went wide-eyed. She hadn't even seen her move, let alone grab her and completely stop her.

This...was a Jounin.

"Maa maa. So impatient, not completely a bad thing though." Kakashi said with another smile. "I think I might start liking you three after all." She let go of Naruto and gave her a gentle push. "Alright you three, your test starts now. Go!"

All three jumped away some distance, leaving Kakashi in the field. Maybe there was some hope for...

"Hey!" Naruto suddenly shouted, interrupting Kakashi's thoughts. "I'm here to take one of those bells right now!"

"...Aren't you a little off?" Kakashi blinked a few times. "You're supposed to be hiding first, you know."

"Psh! The only thing off here is your haircut!" Naruto retorted, putting away the kunai as she charged with her fist already cocked.

Kakashi just rolled her sole visible eye and reached into her own weapon's pouch rather showily as if to pull out a weapon. She knew it would cause Naruto pause and skid away, and it did. '_At least she's showing a semblance of caution._' Kakashi smirked beneath her mask and suddenly pulled out her standard orange book with a flourish.

"What the hell is that?" Naruto frowned, looking at the book that seemed oddly familiar.

"...It's a book, Naruto." Kakashi retorted dryly.

"That's not what I meant!"

"Well, what did you mean then? You asked, I answered."

"Why didn't you pull out a kunai or something?"

"I wanted to find out what happens next."

"Tch." Naruto swore under her breath.

What happened next was both completely amusing and utterly embarrassing; depending on what side one viewed the facts. Naruto's Taijutsu was pretty well average, she tended to use a lot of kicks in her movements, but because she was so short and her technique wasn't utterly polished, against Kakashi, it was almost an embarrassment. Kakashi found it highly amusing though, in a disappointing sort of way. The way she was reacting and leaving so many open holes in her guard that a second and third person could've easily taken one of the bells, but they hadn't clued in on that part yet. Eventually, a wild punch towards Kakashi's blindside was where the female Jounin stopped playing around and ended up crouching behind Naruto with the book held between her hands in a makeshift Tora seal.

"Naruto, watch out!" Sakura's voice screamed from the trees.

"Ninja Training Part One. Taijutsu." Kakashi's voice drawled. "Never let an enemy get behind you Naruto." Kakashi let out an evil chuckle and moved faster than Naruto could react. "_Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi_!"

Naruto's shriek of pain and embarrassment rang through the training area as she twisted through the air and came skidding to a stop as she glared down at Kakashi from where she was standing. "Pervert!" She screamed angrily, a chakra rod erupting from her palm and into her hand with a vengeance, her hand twisting back as she threw the weapon like a javelin while her other hand threw several shuriken around it so they would all be harder to dodge and intercept.

Kakashi was, for the most part, gaping in awe at her hopeful student and she only dodged the incoming projectiles out of mere force of habit than anything. She gaped for a moment more, the orange book till held in one hand as she pulled up her headband suddenly so her second eye could see just what was going on. With Obito's Sharingan whirling madly, Kakashi could see no reason for it.

Naruto Uzumaki was floating in midair and she was pissed. She also didn't realize what she was doing.

"Naruto!" Kakashi barked suddenly, still staring at the girl with Obito's eye. "What the Hell are you doing?"

"You told us to come at you with the intent to kill!" Naruto shouted back from her position.

"Kami above. Look where you are you brat." Kakashi called back. "How are you floating in midair?"

"I'm...what?" Naruto blinked a few times and then looked at her feet, eyes widening at the fact that she was quite literally standing in midair. As soon as she noticed however, she dropped like a rock, right into the river that flowed through the training ground. A great splash taking up the area as Kakashi shook her head.

Sliding the headband back over her eye, Kakashi mused to herself. '_Must be those eyes of her, that's a nasty bloodline if it can do that kind of stuff. Inane Academy reports are useless, good thing I got Iruka-kun's secondary reports.'_ Kakashi finally put her orange book away and used the _Kawamiri no Jutsu_ to get away from the Shuriken that Sasuke had flung from her position.

Naruto cursed from under water.

Sasuke cursed from her spot in the bushes.

Sakura cursed from her spot in the trees.

Kakashi just smiled in her new location.

Today was turning out to be one of the most entertaining in years

* * *

_Words aren't enough  
__But they help sometimes  
__Do you care?  
__Do I...?_

* * *

"Yesterday was kind of nice." Naruto mumbled as she leaned against the bridge in between Sasuke and Sakura. "We made Genin despite that stupid test and I got to see some old friends."

"You being tied to the post was kind of funny." Sasuke put in.

"Eat me." Naruto retorted. "I can't believe Kakashi-sensei did that to me."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Which part, that lame technique, or tying you to the post?"

Naruto tapped her bottom lip and then played with her skirt for a moment before finally answering. "Bit of both, though I can see the uses of that technique outside of being a joke. Just add a kunai with an explosive note." She cackled suddenly at that thought.

"Sicko." Sakura mumbled under her breath

"Hehe...boom." Naruto, admittedly, loved explosions. "So, anyway. How long have we been waiting?"

"Been about half an hour." Sasuke spoke as she drummed her fingers on the railing. "What kind of things do you think we're going to be doing?"

"Itachi-nii didn't tell you?"

"Said it was supposed to be a surprise."

Sakura looked between her teammates for a moment. "Itachi...is...your older brother right?"

"Hai." Sasuke nodded.

"I think I've seen him around a few times, he doesn't look like he puts emotion into anything." Sakura murmured quietly.

"He does." Naruto put in. "He's got some really lame jokes too." She paused at that and looked at her nails and, having painted them orange that very morning just for fun. "I got him a gag gift too, some nail polish, and he actually asked me to paint his nails for him." Naruto started to gush like an actual girl. Admittedly, the older Uchiha had been her little girl crush when she wasn't pretending to be a boy. "It was purple and everything."

"Nii-san? Really?" Sasuke arched an eyebrow at that. "I heard a rumour that he was going to ask Ayame-san out on a date."

Naruto looked a bit crestfallen at that, cursing her luck mentally, but tried not to show it. "Well, they are the same age and Itachi-nii's last girlfriend was..."

"...Yeah." Sasuke suddenly looked crestfallen herself.

Sakura suddenly looked uncomfortable and decided to change the subject. "Wha...what kind of training do you guys think we should do?" She caught Sasuke's onyx gaze and then Naruto's ringed and violet one. "After yesterday, I realized I'm not all that good." Sakura tugged at the high ponytail she had, something akin to how Ino wore her hair, but Sakura's was a bit shorter and didn't have the lock in front. "I mean, well, you're supposedly a genius, and Naruto...well, you were flying yesterday." They both had bloodlines, and if one wanted to look at things, she was the only Shinobi out of the three confirmed teams that didn't have a bloodline or anything spectacular.

"Hmm..." Naruto took a couple steps away from the other two. "Well, I don't know what the hell I did yesterday honest. Heh. But..." She trailed off and blinked a few times as if her gaze had caught something, staring idly off into the sky for a moment, used to the barrier above them. "Well, me and Sasuke both had doujutsu, right, right? Well, mine's kinda like perma-active." Naruto tapped the side of her head. "And, well...I can see chakra." She nodded again.

"Like the Sharingan and Byakugan?" Sakura asked.

"Yes and no, I think." Naruto frowned. "I can't see the chakra in a person like the Byakugan can do, that right?" She got a confirming nod from Sasuke. "Neither can the Sharingan though, but it can see exterior chakra. But I can see it in better detail."

"You can?" Sasuke asked with a frown. This was new information.

"Yep. Hokage-jiji confirmed it when I told him I could see certain things. Kakashi-sensei told me she couldn't see any chakra when I was doing...whatever it was yesterday. I think I've got an idea but I can't replicate it quite yet. Anyway." She paused a second, tapping her bottom lip again. "Where was I?"

"Seeing chakra." Sakura pointed out.

Naruto's dropped her right fist into her open palm on her left and nodded. "Right. Anyway. I've noticed how everyone's chakra usage was back in class. I've got way too much and it's kinda bright sometimes and hurts my eyes." She grimaced a little at that. "But I can pretty much do what I want with it, or so I'm told. Anyway, off track again, Kami I hate that. But yeah, Sakura-chan, you've got like, the best control out off most of the Kunoichi in the class. You do what you need to do with it and don't waste any of it. Ino and Hinata are the closest in comparison, but they don't even compare."

"Where am I on that list?" Sasuke asked.

"You're about the middle of the pack I'd say, but you've got the second most chakra in the class, but only because Shino's an Aburame." Naruto nodded. "He'd have the highest, and you edge out both Kiba and Chouji."

"Hn." Sasuke smirked at that. "And who had the highest if it wasn't me?"

"Well, me of course." Naruto exclaimed with her thumb jutting towards her chest. "Which is why I have the worst control in the class too. It blows!"

"...That's why you can't make a single _Bunshin_ to save your life." Sakura exclaimed. "You're overloading it so much it comes off as something dying." The pinkette paused at that and frowned. "Maybe if you used more hand seals and then called for more clones you'd be able to do it."

"More hand seals?" Naruto blinked a few times. "I thought it was just one, that's what Miz..." She trailed off and then started cursing to the high heavens about what she was going to do that bastard of a fruitcake. It took five minutes before Naruto calmed herself down and was panting for a moment before she took a deep breath "Oh well. I've got my _Kage Bunshin_ now."

"Those solid clones you used?" Sasuke asked, interested in the use of solid clones.

"Yep yep. I can make a good bunch of them, but I can really only use about ten before my head starts to hurt." Naruto tapped her head at that and then pointed at her eyes. "My doujutsu means I can see through the clones."

Sasuke blinked "See through?"

"Well, not see through...I mean...ugh, I don't know how to explain it..." Naruto grumbled.

"I get it." Sakura nodded and made three hand seals before she made two _Bunshin_. Two turned two look in different directions as she herself turned to Sasuke. "Naruto means that she sees what each clones sees. I see Sasuke-ku...er, chan, where as the one behind me would see the Monument and so on."

"Sakura-chan's so smart!" Naruto cheered and grinned, which only lasted a few seconds before she suddenly got annoyed again. "Where is Kakashi-sensei?"

"...I was lost on the road of life." Kakashi spoke as she appeared in a puff of smoke. "Nice bit of exposition there, Sakura."

Sakura herself bushed as she dismissed her clones. "Thank you Sensei." She blinked a few times and then narrowed her green eyes at her Jounin Sensei. "You're late."

"True." Kakashi just shrugged it off. "Now, off we go to the mission desk so we can start your brand new Shinobi career with such joyful things like D ranked missions."

Naruto cheered wildly, Sasuke looked somewhat interested and Sakura was fidgeted in anticipation. Kakashi just looked amused.

Their trip to Hokage Tower was quick and they were the only team they saw in the process. Sitting in the Mission Room was the Hokage and Iruka, and some other random Chuunin from throughout the village. They might've been the only team, but there were other people both lined up and handing in payments for missions and others lined up and going through paperwork for their own missions. The three Genin realized that the Hokage was there just because it was their first mission and it was a show of support for the various Genin teams.

"So, your first mission, 'eh Team Seven?" Hiruzen Sarutobi was, per usual, puffing on his pipe with a smile on his face. "Well, first mission as an actual team I suppose." He chuckled as both Naruto and Sasuke had faint blushes. "Thank you for both your reports yesterday, we'll be making some changes to the way things are being done because of those and your payments have been forwarded to your new accounts." He pulled out a scroll from the haphazard pile and smirked a little. "Here you go." He absently tossed the scroll to Kakashi who caught it easily.

"At least it's not _that_ mission." Kakashi mumbled under her breath. "Alright Team, our first ever assignment. We're to walk a pack of Inuzuka Dogs around the village for the next couple of hours."

"You're not serious." Naruto's deadpanned while Sasuke and Sakura gaped. She stared for a moment, watching as Kakashi grin and unroll the scroll for all of the three girls to see. "You are serious."

"Welcome to the wonderful world of D-ranks kids, enjoy your stay, you'll be doing them for the next little while." Kakashi grinned at the looks she was getting pulling out her small camera and snapping a picture at the look of bewilderment, surprise and disgust. It was a beautiful thing. She had to remind herself to make a copy so Anko could have a good laugh as well.

That was pretty much how things went for a good month. A couple D ranks here and there, some training, though it was mostly by their selves with Kakashi just supervising. She had explained it to them that Jounin Sensei's didn't actually teach much to Genin as a way of it being a balancing system, but she did promise to show them something on their first C-Rank when they got to it. It just so happened that their first one was coming up, Kakashi had it planned out too.

After all, all Genin are likely to snap after trying to catch _that_ magnificent bastard.

* * *

_Pain is a Loneliness.  
__Loneliness also enters Nothingness  
__Pain is a Rage.  
__Rage slowly becomes Sorrow_

* * *

Part One: Exodus.

A child grows and slowly starts to learn.

They do not know. They do not understand.

But soon a child will come to learn Pain.

Pain _Is_...


	5. Jinchuuriki Interlude

_**Jinchuuriki Interlude**_

* * *

_Pain is Pain._

* * *

One: Sabaku no Gaara, Jinchuuriki for the Biju Ichibi no Shukaku.

Sabaku no Gaara is a child of the desert. Youngest child of the Fourth Kazekage, he is also the second youngest Jinchuuriki in the Elemental Countries and also the first and only Jinchuuriki to be made into a living sacrifice while still within the womb of his mother. Gaara was born as his Mother died, already hearing the voice of the Ichibi within his mind. From the very first day, Gaara has never slept a single night in his life. Restless, listless, he trudges on with his existance. Since being a small child, Gaara has been alone save for his Uncle Yashamaru.

As Gaara grew he discovered his ability to consciously and unconsciously manipulate the sand around him, it protecting him from injury without thought, so much so that not even he could accidentally or purposefully hurt himself. He remembers the first time he tried, wondering what pain was as he attempted to stab himself with a sharp knife. As he continued to grow, questions from him became more frequent. Was he a monster? A freak? A demon? He heard the whispers in his mind, but paid them no heed.

He, along with Naruto Uzumaki, have been the only two Jinchuuriki to have assassination attempts upon them. Gaara having several as he grew up, though, not knowing exactly what they were until the final one when he was still a child. The last assassination attempt from Uncle Yashamaru himself as Gaara finally gave into the voices in his head. Mother demanded blood and retribution and Gaara gave Mother exactly that even as Yashamaru exploded into pieces next to him.

Gaara knew Pain. He had become a victim. He fell into the madness of the Ichibi, demanding blood and bodies even as he branded himself on the forehead with what he truly desired. Love was the only thing Gaara ever truly wanted, having had it snatched away by Hate, Pain, and Suffering. He continues to search for the reason for his very existance, leaving a trail of corpses as he goes. He longs for these feelings from his siblings, even as they shy away in fear from him. Down the spiral of madness he continues, still searching, waiting for someone to show him what he really wishes for.

He has just been told he will participate in the next Chuunin Exams in Konoha with his siblings.

He is a Weapon. He is a Sacrifice. He is a Jinchuuriki.

* * *

Two: Yugito Nii, Jinchuuriki for the Biju Nibi no Bakeneko.

Yugito Nii became a Sacrifice at the age of two in the land of Kumo. Like most Jinchuuriki in Kumo, she grew up treated with respect and dignity. Becoming a Kunoichi during the Third Great Shinobi War while Kumo aided Iwa against Konoha and Suna to take Kusa, Yugito first truly tapped the power of her Biju when her entire team was wiped out by a contingent of Konoha Nin, leaving her the only survivor on either side. She vowed from that day on to train herself to become stronger, better, and faster so that she could always protect her team and her village from danger.

It took years but she became one of only three of the current Jinchuuriki to fully tame her Biju, she went to great lengths, increasing her mastery over all things fire, learning even S-Rank _Katon_ Jutsu easily, doing so in the same place as Killer B. However, before she could re-enter the battlefield to prove her worth, the Third Great War ended almost as abruptly as it had started with Kumo and Iwa losing to Suna and more specifically Konoha's might. She held no resentment to Konoha as a whole for that had been a time of war and both sides were just following orders. Nevertheless, she continued to train and train, perfecting her techniques, both with and without her Biju.

Yugito knew Pain, yet she had never really become a victim. Being the granddaughter of the Third Raikage and the niece to the Fourth Raikage when he became as such, she enjoyed being one of Kumo's top Kunoichi. Secretly though, she still wished to test her mettle against stronger and stronger opponents, searching out fights whenever she could.

She knew in the end, however, that she is a weapon. A Sacrifice.

* * *

Three: Kiri no Yagura, Jinchuuriki for the Biju Sanbi no Kyodaigame.

Yagura had always wanted to become the Mizukage as a child, looking up to his uncle, the third Mizukage like he was a perfect being. At the age of six, he had been chosen as the newest host for the Sanbi and he was ecstatic over the position. He excelled as a Shinobi, coming into agreement with the Sanbi through intelligent conversations and fights within his own mindscape to pass time in between missions as he grew older. It was through these fights that they garnered respect for each other, even going so far as to injure each other's opposite eyes, Yagura's left and the Sanbi's right.

He was devastated when the knowledge that his Uncle was murmured by an unknown assassin, and at that time, he started his campaign to become the Fourth Mizukage, garnering support from Ninja and civilian alike, but that was when tragedy truly struck Kiri and changed the Village for the worse. Not long after the gentle and caring Yagura became Mizukage was when the horrors truly began. Soon, under his leadership, the village became known as the Bloody Mist, the Academy had been changed from a regular graduation to death matches, those suspected of even the smallest insubordination were executed publically, and finally the Bloodline Purges began.

Everyone wondered what happened to the kindly Yagura, but no one dared to go against their Mizukage because they feared his control over his Biju since he was immune to Genjutsu through the Sanbi's influence and could easily counter any and all _Suiton_ Jutsu which the village primarily was known for.

Unbeknownst to all, Yagura struggled inside of his own mind. Trapped within a cage, unable to control or act for himself. Forced to watch as his body ordered the Death of his friends and subordinates, his immunity to Genjutsu did not extend to that of the sheer power of the one controlling him. Yagura struggled daily for years and years, slowly gaining ground within his own mind to regain control of his own body to purge that that controlled him.

The Coup led by Zabuza Momochi was perhaps the greatest thing that Yagura had ever hoped for. Zabuza and his apprentice had managed to injure him in such a way that he managed to gain slight control over himself, and even though that was years ago, Yagura was finally ready to make his move while his controller was gone from Kiri.

Yagura knew Pain and he was still a victim. However, as he finally was able to control his own body just enough, Yagura managed to stare out across the waters of his homeland, his hands gathering chakra together for the last time as he smiled faintly. This was his home and even though no one knew, he was constantly fighting for control. He would end that day still fighting.

He was a Weapon. He was a Sacrifice. He was Jinchuuriki. His fate was now his own. His chakra flaring one last time as he ripped the seal from his mind and body.

Everything went black.

Yagura was free.

* * *

Four: Rōshi, Jinchuuriki for the Biju Yonbi no Saru.

Rōshi was the oldest Jinchuuriki currently living, having been born near the tail end of the First Great Shinobi War. He has been the first and only Jinchuuriki for the Yonbi being that he has stayed alive over the years despite his advanced age. It also helped that he was the younger brother of the Third Tsuchikage. At the same time, however, he could barely contain or control his Biju.

The Yonbi was, to put it lightly, feral. It was madder than the Ichibi and had less intelligence than the Sanbi. Rōshi barely was able to rely on the beast within, but he did manage to gain some incredible abilities out of his predicament. The ability to spew lava from his mouth or force it up from the ground was a God-send during the Second War and was very useful in the third up until the Yellow Flash started to make his debut.

Nevertheless, Rōshi continued to be on the frontlines, but he noticed he was becoming less and less used in comparison to the other Jinchuuriki Iwa had. Finally, near the end of the war, Rōshi requested he be pulled from the frontlines so that he might be able to obtain mastery over his Biju. The Yondaime Tsuchikage granted his request and Rōshi left Iwa.

He never went back.

Rōshi knew Pain. He had made others his victims though so as to make sure he never was one himself. He is an old Shinobi, one of the oldest still living, and he has become very cautious and paranoid over that fact. Even now, he remains away and wary of Iwa despite having been given permission to leave and train, which he still tries to do and has never managed. He is unaware that he is being watched by a man in a black cloak with red clouds.

He knows he is a Weapon. He knows he was supposed to be a sacrifice for Iwa. He is a Jinchuuriki, and one day he hopes he will live up to that responsibility.

* * *

Five: Han, Jinchuuriki for the Biju known just as 'Gobi'

The second of Iwa's Jinchuuriki, Han, unlike Rōshi, was despised by his country and its people. The reason was known to everyone across the Elemental Countries. He is widely known as the reason Iwa lost the Third Great War to Konoha and Suna. Before the war Han was well respected, his enemies cowered before his size, and stature. One of the largest and physically strongest people to ever live, his red-armour a testament to his prowess and his durability.

However, things changed during the Third War. The Gobi was much more docile than the Yonbi, it was speculated because the Gobi was such a strange creature instead of being a proper animal like all the rest. The horse-dolphin hybrid spoke to Han in riddles and oddities, but allowed Han to use a partial transformed state for its own amusement. It was through this reason that Iwa was decimating Konoha's forces during the first part of the war and it was also the reason they lost in the end.

In the end, it was Han that caused the soon to be Yondaime Hokage to create his signature technique over the course of the War. The Imari, or Bijudama, was a devastating attack, but Han used it several times against the Yondaime, devastating the landscape, destroying Konoha's men easily, but never the Yellow Flash. Minato Namikaze developed a way around the technique using Uzumaki sealing techniques to displace and redirect the attack back at Han and Iwa's forces, and then he went and developed his own version, the Rasengan.

Iwa lost the third war. They were embarrassed by their Jinchuuriki, and Han had become a disgrace to the people. Because of that, Han knew Pain. Han had because a victim of his own self-assurance during the War. Now, to this very day, Han has become bitter and broken. He hates his country. He hates humanity.

Han wishes for his revenge, and as he is approached by a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds for the second time, he agrees to go along with the man's plan for the betterment of the world through Pain. He would be a weapon for this new future.

If only he knew in advance what was going to happen.

* * *

Six: Utakata, Jinchuuriki for the Biju Rokubi no Namekuji.

Utakata is one of many Missing-Nin from Kiri and is possibly the first Jinchuuriki to ever be as such. He was raised, not knowing his parents, not having any real attachment to Kiri other than being a Jinchuuriki and after he felt his master betray him, Utakata decided to just…quit. Because of his status as a Jinchuuriki and the fact that the man behind the Yondaime wanted him back, Utakata quickly was given one of the highest bounties in the Elemental Countries, set at fifty-million Ryo.

Unbeknownst to Utakata, he was the son of the Sandaime Mizukage, sure he got along famously with the Mizukage, but he knew not about being his child. The man always seemed to look at Utakata with a pained look in his eyes every time he first saw him in the day, even up to the day he died. He never knew his mother had died just as Utakata was being born, or that his older sister had a week before Utakata's sealing.

In the end, he didn't even know that his Master and Sensei, when Utakata had finally become a Shinobi wasn't betraying him, but trying to save him from being a Jinchuuriki. He still thought about it every now and again though.

Even as Utakata looked down at the girl named Hotaru, a member of the Tsuchigumo clan, he remembered how he had come to despite his master and any thought of being one. Even now as she finished the hand seals for _Suiton: Mizurappa_, he watched in almost disgust at himself.

He knew he was a Weapon, but he no longer wished to be a sacrifice to those that would use him, none of that mattered anymore.

He knew what it was to feel Pain. He didn't understand that he was a victim of his own misunderstandings. Even now he didn't trust himself to call Hotaru his student. Perhaps one day, perhaps even might foist her off at someone else. Perhaps…

But right now, Utakata enjoyed Hotaru's shout of glee.

* * *

Seven: Fuu, Jinchuuriki for the Biju Nanbi no Kabutomushi.

Fuu is the only Jinchuuriki not within one of the 'Great Five', a member of the minor village Takigakure, a village priding itself on the fact that it's never been infiltrated and invaded ever before and only having one real major Missing-Nin since the start of the Major Villages. Unlike the Containers of the Ichibi and Kyuubi, she had never had an assassination attempt upon her life.

No. Instead she was kept locked up, sealed away, ready to be used only when necessary. Bindings, Blindfolds, a deep and dark cell is where she was constantly kept in fear that she would escape and destroy the Village However, the Village Leader didn't even know about Fuu. The sealing, Fuu's existance, that of the Nanbi, was held secret, not something known by a good majority of the population.

She hated the people she saw, she hated her very existance. She entertained thoughts of killing everyone, everything. She hated humanity.

Some days, she even wished she could die.

She was sent on missions of course, she could even do partial transformations, but there were seals on her chest to keep her in check from killing her so called Handlers. A Death Switch is what it had been so subtly called.

Pain was her existance and she was nothing but a victim, lost in the darkness, her mind coming close to shattering. The Nanbi's whispers of revenge were becoming louder and harder to ignore.

Within her little cell, locked away, unable to see or hear, she noticed not the man with the black cloak and red clouds looking down at her with a contemplating look on his face.

Takigakure was a village that prided itself on never being infiltrated before, but it never counted on the single S-Rank Missing-Nin that the village produced to still be alive.

Fuu however could feel someone in the room with her, calling out, begging to be released. She would get her wish…soon enough.

* * *

Eight: Killer B, Jinchuuriki for the Biju Hachibi no Ushi-Oni-Kyogyuu

Killer B is perhaps the most widely known Jinchuuriki and easily the most eccentric of them all. The adopted brother of the Fourth Raikage, B, is the strongest Jinchuuriki current living. B is the best trained and unlike Yugito and Yagura who just control their Biju, B gets along with and jokes with his own, though the Hachibi doesn't quite appreciate B's bad rapping skills.

Part of the reason that B is so famous, or perhaps infamous, is that he is one of the few to survive being at kunai point from the Yellow Flash himself, even going so far as to be complimented by the blond man while they were at an impasse with each other.

Truth be told, B was really only the adopted brother of A, his original name long forgotten by now. He was A's adopted brother at the age of five, going on missions with bother A and his older cousin, the previous Jinchuuriki until B's cousin lost control. Not long after, at the age of six was when B became the third Jinchuuriki for the Hachibi.

It took years of constant training before B finally gained complete control of the Hachibi within the Falls of Truth., and by that time, A's father, the Third Raikage had died.

That was when B first started to truly know Pain. A had become over protective, never allowing B outside of the village, telling his younger brother to concentrate on really learning the Imari since it was a long ranged technique. He'd never be in danger again.

Even now, as B watched his students, planning their first foray into the Jounin Exams, he wondered what it was like to be a victim. He still didn't quite understand it himself, he still didn't quite understand the world, annoyed slightly with his Brother since it felt like A no longer trusted him to do what was best and right.

B knew exactly what he was. A Jinchuuriki, a Sacrifice for Kumo.

And the best damn weapon to ever to B!

…If only he could find a better rhyme.

* * *

Nine: Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki for the Biju Kyuubi no Youko.

Naruto is the youngest of the Jinchuuriki, the least trained out of the Nine and armed with the least knowledge of what she really is. Turned into a Jinchuuriki the very self-same day she was born, not even hours after her birth. Her childhood is much like Sabaku no Gaara, the second youngest Jinchuuriki. Shunned as children, not quite understanding what or why, but whereas Gaara went one way, losing himself into the madness, Naruto put on a mask of happiness.

The difference between the two is as night and day, but the real reason is that Naruto wasn't really alone.

Oh, it was true, she had started to hate Konoha in the beginning, not understanding why no one liked her when she was but three and four, However, despite that budding hatred, she found her first friend while wandering the streets alone, under the stares of hatred. Sasuke Uchiha was Naruto's first real and actual friend.

The fate of the world changed that day.

Without that friendship, Naruto would've been bitter towards the village until a year before she graduated from the Academy. Without that friendship, she wouldn't trust anyone but the Old Man and the Ichiraku's. Without that friendship, she would not have been late to play with Sasuke in the summer of her fourth year.

She would never have taken that shortcut to the Uchiha district, she would have never been attacked by a crowd of drunks that had lost family and friends when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Naruto would have never almost died, and in that event, something awoke that never should have.

One event cascades into another, events change, things topple down, and people change and become different. Naruto suffered, unknowingly because of irrational hatred, coming close to death a few times but not knowing what had happened. There had been a grand total of four real attempts on her life if one included that first attack when she was four.

Naruto still didn't quite understand, even after she had been told, but she did understand that man without a scent had really tried to kill her. That was when she met _Him_.

That was when Naruto first started to understand Pain, when she had almost become a victim to someone's sick desires. She vowed that day she would fight against it and would never become a victim. She'd never run away, fight against everything.

Naruto didn't understand what it meant to be a Jinchuuriki, she didn't understand what it was to be a Weapon or a Sacrifice to the people. All she understood was that someone wanted to use her and they had tried to hurt her friends and those she considered family.

The night after the attempted Uchiha Massacre, she vowed she would never give in or give up.

Even now as she pounced upon a small cat named Tora, she thought about what she needed to do to become stronger, to protect those she cared for, a single sensation causing her head to snap upwards to the side, unknowingly looking towards Mist as she felt something depart, a sensation of sorrow filling her. A second later, she pushed it down and consolidated her vow once more.

She was Naruto Uzumaki and with these eyes of hers she would ensure no one would ever be a victim ever again.

* * *

_Pain is with us Forever._


	6. Living and Fear

Part Two: Enter The Stage.

A child has grown; she had been a girl and was now considered a woman.

Confusion was hidden beneath.

Pandora's Box had been open.

She knows not yet what is to come, but will soon learn...

...

This is what it truly means to _feel_ Pain.

* * *

_I've always wanted to tell you..._

* * *

They were a ragtag group of girls really. One wouldn't think to look at them any other way. They were both the most well-known and least understood of all the current Genin teams. In fact, the only one team that could come close to their oddity had graduated a full on year before, but even then, they just didn't compare. Team Seven was the first all Kunoichi team to come out of Konoha, ever, and it might've also been the first all Kunoichi team formed at Genin throughout the entire Elemental Countries. Intelligence on that part wasn't quite sure.

The youngest and smallest of the team was an orphan. Not just any orphan, but the _Pariah_ of the village. Everyone knew of her but only her team actually _knew_ her. The rest of the village thought of her as a demon, something to ignore when they could, or hurt in inconspicuous ways. Even Clan leaders had called for her Death when it was reported she had stolen the Forbidden Scroll of Seals. Not that any would actually admit it of course. The Akimichi had been chastised for that outburst of emotion. Of course, she had also been the target of a few assassination attempts and it had affected her greatly, but she kept those things bottled deep inside. Not many knew her deepest secrets, about her bloodline, her eyes. Nor did they know that she knew about her burden and had used it to her benefit while enjoying the sensation. She was Naruto Uzumaki and she was no one's victim.

The oldest member of the trio of students was a civilian and was the first Kunoichi of her family, unlike any of the other graduates that year. She was the lucky one, but she was also the second smartest person from the classroom, though one wouldn't know it because the smartest was too lazy to pull his own worth. It was worthwhile to also note that she had the best chakra control anyone had any seen in decades from a new student, of course, not many people pay attention to that sort of thing when it came to Peacetime. A little unknown fact about her was that she had MPD, or Multiple Personality Disorder and a minor case of Schizophrenia. She heard things, always telling her how to act and what to do, but she kept a lid on it, playing the meek fan girl when sometimes she just wanted to throttle someone to death. Though, admittedly, she did fall into the hype for a while. It was why she joined the _Program_ to begin with, to sate her hidden bloodlust and to try and control her anger. Admittedly, she still hadn't told her teammates beyond a few minor details here and there. She was Sakura Haruno and she was far from normal.

The middle member, neither youngest nor oldest but standing in at the tallest of the height factor was the only member that came from a Shinobi Clan. She was also the last member of the clan that could still become a Ninja and was highly praised for that fact even if she hated the entire thing. It would be a near on decade before the next member of the clan could even become a member of the Konoha Ninja Force. Much like the youngest member of their Team, everyone knew of her, but only her team actually _knew_ her. Her temper was fiery when provoked, but she came across as cool, calm, and collected. She hated the attention she had gotten in the Academy from her Fan girls and Fan boys because it wasn't known that she was actually her own gender. She was Sasuke Uchiha and she was no one's fool.

The last member of their team was perhaps one of the biggest enigma's to come out of Konoha. Barely any person alive knew what she looked like, and only two people knew those details in full. She was known throughout the Elemental Countries with various different nicknames and a reputation known for getting the job done and for her well known ideas and ideals on Teamwork. Her extensive knowledge of jutsu and her level of skill put her in place as one of the Elite Jounin and is one of the strongest Ninja of Konoha with just a handful being able to beat her in a fight. She has acknowledged the fact that she has spent too much time living in the past, but with her team being the first she has ever passed, she is finally looking forward to the future and what it might bring. She was also the laziest person alive; having taken part of that attribute from the same person she had received her most precious gift of all. She was Kakashi Hatake and she was the leader of Team Seven.

They had been together for only a short time; they were the odd team out. An orphan, the youngest of a nearly massacred clan, and a civilian led by the most laid back Jounin one could think of. They were considered the weakest team of the year by some, those who didn't understand and only went by what the reports had said instead of actually meeting the three students. The Dead Last Orphan. The one who couldn't compare to her older brother. The civilian with pink hair. The Jounin who had never passed a team and didn't know how to teach. Those that thought that didn't understand, they didn't know.

Those that did understand knew exactly what they were all capable of. One who knows would never underestimate a Jinchuuriki. One who knows would never underestimate an Uchiha who first used their Sharingan at the age of seven. One who knows would never underestimate the perfect control their third member had obtained. One who knows would never underestimate a lazy genius.

One who knows would never underestimate Team Seven.

Too bad only a select few really did know.

* * *

_...That I really did envy you._

* * *

"No!"

Everyone looked at Naruto as she held her hands above her head in a large 'X'. She was getting aggravated and annoyed. These weren't missions to her; they were just stupid chores, especially after the second week. They understood what they missions were about and what they entailed. They kind of training they were meant to invoke. Most, of course, didn't see it, but Sakura was the first to clue in. She was the smartest of the three after all.

"No; what?"

It was the Hokage who responded; a bit of an amused glint to his eye, hidden behind the shadow of his massive hat. He was waiting for one of the new teams to crack; there was always an ongoing bet about these sorts of things. There'd be an exchange of money before the day was done, that was for sure.

"No more crappy missions." The red-head nodded resolutely putting her arms down, looking at her team and garnering a bit of reluctant support. "We want something that isn't just a chore." Naruto nodded with that part. "And don't even bother getting into that spiel of us being a new team; we know what the missions are about, and what rank we should be before doing them." Naruto dropped down, sitting cross legged on the floor while dusting off her shorts.

Iruka, whom was helping in the mission office, had a vein appearing on his forehead in a tad bite of annoyance. "Naruto! You're acting childish. You're a Ninja now for Kami's sake. Start acting like it!" He got a raspberry and a redeye as a response causing the still Chuunin to scowl in mock annoyance before laughing under his breath. He then arched an eyebrow and rubbed the scar over his nose while looking at Kakashi. "Are they ready?"

"Maa maa." Kakashi waved it off, her eye peeking over her book to look at the mission desk. "I'm sure they can handle it. We did just get Tora back with barely any injuries after all." That was saying something in of itself. Naruto was the worst off and she only got her arms clawed up a little before the cat was subdued. Of course, petting the little bastard gently was what it apparently wanted, and after watching Madam Shijimi. "Besides, if worse comes to worse, I can deal with it."

"Alright. Send Tazuna in then." Sarutobi nodded and let out a ring of smoke from the corner of his mouth. At the same time he threw a scroll towards Kakashi who caught it with her spare hand.

In walked the scruffiest old man that Sasuke and Sakura both had ever seen. Of course, Naruto being no stranger to the streets had seen worse. She had smelled worse too, but that didn't change the fact that this Tazuna guy stunk to high heaven, the open sake bottle didn't help much. He was old, but not as old as Sarutobi, and was a civilian to boot. Unlike most people that had requested and paid for missions, Tazuna looked like the kind of man that actually did something useful for a living. His glasses seemed off kilter, just like his posture and walking. Tazuna was half cut by all looks and his eyes glazed over as he looked at the kids in front of him. "This them?"

"Indeed." Sarutobi said with a nod. "Team Seven, you're to protect and escort Tazuna back to the Land of Waves and continue until the bridge he is working upon is finished."

They all looked slightly disappointed that they weren't protecting someone _important_. After a few seconds, all three Genin did nod their heads and turned to face Tazuna and glare back at him just as he was doing to them.

Normally Tazuna would make some derisive comment, but the eyes of the shortest one seemed to put him off. However his lack of common sense from being drunk finally over road him. "What's with them? A bunch of little girls? Shouldn't you go play with your dollies or something?"

Sakura was the one with the most open response, her entire body twitching at that comment. Her hand dipping for a kunai before she managed to get control of herself. '**Shaa! We'll kick your ass!**_**' **_Inner Sakura roared.

"...And you, aren't you a little young and short for this?" Tazuna continued, pointing at Naruto.

Everyone expected Naruto to respond with violence, it was her kind of thing after all, especially when it was easy to see that Sakura was visible restraining herself from acting out, but Naruto's voice was rather light, all things considered. "Old Fart, I've been killing people since I turned five. Do you want to be on The List too?" Of course, it was an over exaggeration, she'd only killed one person before, and that was in self-defence.

"Maa maa." Kakashi suddenly spoke up to Tazuna's utter relief. "Regardless, I'm coming too and I am a Jounin. There shouldn't be a single problem." Kakashi smiled under her mask before burying her face back within the ever present orange book. "After all, this is just a C-Rank."

Naruto wasn't paying attention. Sakura was too busy arguing with herself and Kakashi wasn't paying attention anymore either. The Hokage was busy going through mission scrolls for the next team to accept and everyone else was helping except for Sasuke. She was the only one watching when Tazuna looked suddenly nervous and stuttered a little before getting it under control with a pull from the bridge builder's sake bottle.

"Alright then. The name is Tazuna, Super Bridge Builder extraordinaire!"

"Hai hai. We'll meet at the Main Gate at Nine in the morning." Kakashi nodded

"...So, Noon then?" Sasuke looked between her teammates and got nods.

"That's what I said, wasn't it?" Kakashi re-joined cheerfully.

Tazuna just glared.

* * *

_Yet at the same time..._

* * *

They had been ambushed, and that was putting it lightly, by two Mist Chuunin, though one would wonder about that. They had eviscerated Kakashi, but the three Genin reacted instantly, Sakura jumping back to protect their client while Naruto and Sasuke ran forward, crisscrossing to try and confuse their opponents if only slightly. Sasuke had already thrown out a shuriken with unnerving accuracy before following up with a kunai to lock the chain the two Mist-Nin were using into a tree. Naruto herself had decided on using one of her newfound abilities and was using one of the black rods that had erupting from her palm to stab the closest one.

She still hadn't realized what the chakra rods were or what they could do, but when she stabbed the Chuunin deeply in the shoulder when he was distracted by the yank on his chain, she started to have an inkling. Her chakra burst through the rod, forcing its way down and into her opponent's own coils. All the masked and gauntleted man could do was submit to the eyes he saw, judging him, leaving him under her mercy. Naruto suddenly stopped and stared, her body trembling as she clutched at her face, the Mist-Nin shakily mimicking the movement causing the pre-teen girl to tremble even worse.

The other had noticed and stopped his attack to lunge at her, but Kakashi was suddenly in the way, an arm slamming violently into the Chuunin's throat. Kakashi shifted, bring her other arm down swiftly into the back of the man's neck, dropping him to the ground unconscious. Sasuke was instantly by their side and was quickly securing the Mist-Nin with a nod from Kakashi before they both turned to Naruto and the now slumped over Chuunin whom was trying to resist whatever it was and pull out the rod imbedded into his shoulder.

Naruto's chakra flared and the man slumped over, blissfully unconscious. Sakura and Tazuna came forth wearily, looking at the now ended fight, the pink-haired Genin slipping away the two kunai she held with a bit of disappointment on her features. Kakashi dragged the subdued Mist-Nin next to the one Sasuke had finished tying and both worked together to tie them together even more securely before Naruto's weapon disintegrated. Blood spurting from the now opened wound.

"What the fuck was that?" Naruto exclaimed after all was said and done. "I could...I could...Oh Kami-sama, I think I feel sick." She dropped down to the ground, panting slightly.

"You okay, Naruto?" Sakura walked over, crouching next to the red-haired girl with a look of concern on her face. "You shouldn't be this pale from just stabbing an enemy."

"It felt like one of my clones." She murmured, gaining Kakashi and Sasuke's full attention now once they had tied both Mist-Nin to a nearby tree. "It felt wrong, yet right. Like I could control him like he was just a puppet." Naruto gagged at that though. If there was anything she hated more than that, it was the thought of being someone's victim.

"Naruto." Kakashi moved closer. "Tell me exactly how it felt to you."

"He felt like...well, my arm." Naruto blinked, still breathing heavily. "But that I had to think to move him. It felt so weird when I first stabbed him, like a Jutsu gone wrong, but then I started to feel what he was thinking and..." She trailed off, her hands trembling. "What've I done? What've I become?"

"A great Kunoichi." Sasuke interrupted softly, her features bland as she stared at their subdued enemies. "You did great Naruto."

"Sasuke-chan's right, Naruto." Sakura murmured before looking at her Sensei. "Why'd you go and leave them to us." She didn't comment on the disgusting display that Kakashi's Kawamiri and minor Genjutsu had produced.

"I wanted to know what they were after. Nuke-Nin from Mist, the Demon Brothers." Kakashi responded blithely. "If it was just me, they would have fled right away. If it was Sasuke, they would've gone straight for her instead of charging right down the middle...leaving us with one last option." Kakashi mused to herself that she was glad that Naruto still wasn't a known quality throughout the rest of the Shinobi Villages. "So, Tazuna-san. Care to explain?"

Sasuke and Sakura whirled on their client while Naruto slowly got up with a frown on her face. She wasn't interested in Tazuna, more so interested in one of her new abilities. It really wasn't as cool as her first two, but...

"Well, you see, the thing is..." Tazuna mumbled out, blanching as he caught the utterly malicious glint coming from Sakura's green eyes.

The girl was reaching for a kunai once more and Tazuna started to sweat as he babbled out the reasons. About Gatou, about the bridge, about how he'd surely die if he wasn't protected and how his daughter would be oh so sad. It was enough to cause Kakashi to droop. She hated sob stories like this, they always got to her. Sasuke was staring blandly, but honestly wanted to help. Sakura was both disappointed, but did want to proceed with the mission if it meant staying out of the village and away from that damn _cat_. Naruto was distracted and had found another black rod in her hand while looking at the two tied up Mist-Nin.

"Well, alright then. We'll have to vote on it." Kakashi said with a sigh knowing full well this is why he, and specifically his team, had been sent. This wasn't a C-Rank by far, but this was the best test of their mettle. "What do you three think?"

"We should go on." Sasuke spoke softly as she turned to watch Naruto whom was now eyeing her weapon.

"I agree with Sasuke-chan." Sakura chirped mockingly like a good little fan girl should before turning serious with a grin at Sasuke's incredulous look. "We wouldn't be very good Ninja if we turned down a mission, even if it's a higher rank."

"Naruto? Your opinion?" Kakashi turned and eyed the red-haired Uzumaki.

"Huh? Oh. Whatever's fine." She still wasn't paying attention for the most part. She paused as she finally reflected, allowing the black-ish rod in her hand to disintegrate without a second thought. "We should go on. We're Konoha Ninja after all."

Ah. Propaganda like this just wrote itself.

"Alright then. We'll continue to protect you Tazuna, but you are aware that there will have to be more money coming when this job is done." Kakashi finally spoke up, finally pulling her book back out from her pocket. Nodding absently as she looked at some of the trees where the tied up brothers were still unconscious.

"Anything!" Tazuna responded giddily and led them on towards their first major stop so they could meet with a contact and a boat to get closer to Wave.

None of the children or Tazuna had noticed the masked Nin in the trees, watching them carefully.

* * *

_...I didn't really understand it..._

* * *

"Everybody, down!" Kakashi's yell was almost a shriek as she threw herself onto of Tazuna, tackling him to the ground as a massive sword swung over head at a height that would've decapitated her and Tazuna both. It seemed to twirl through the air as if being guided by some other force before finally embedding itself into a tree. A flash of chakra, and a man was standing upon the embedded sword, as if he belonged there. He was taller than most, muscular, scarred, and wore bandages around his neck, covering up halfway across his face as well. He was obviously a Mist-Ninja, and Team 7 figured he was also a Nuke-Nin, just like the first two.

"Ah, so this is why The Demon Brothers lost." The man remarked idly as he looked at the Genin Team and their Jounin Sensei. "If it isn't Sharingan Kakashi." The man mused. With a shift of his foot, he just pushed against the tree, wrenching his sword from it as he dropped at the same time, easily catching the massive blade in a one handed grip. "...And a bunch of brats I see."

Sasuke's, Naruto's and Sakura's eyes widened at their Sensei's nickname.

"Zabuza Momochi." Kakashi's voice was soft, yet her posture and sole visible eye had turned completely cold. "Why exactly are you here, of all places?"

"Not that it's any of your business." the now dubbed Zabuza seemed to grin behind the wrappings that covered his mouth. "But would you kindly hand over the old bridge builder so that I could kill him?" Zabuza's voice had turned mild as he shifted slightly, turning his body sideways to half look at the group.

"Ah, I'm afraid I can't quite do that. We've been paid to protect him after all." Kakashi re-joined, her voice also turning light as she lifted a hand towards her headband, an eye-smile was directed at Zabuza the entire while. "We Konoha Nin don't back down from a mission, after all."

"Paid, huh?" Zabuza mused at that and shrugged. "Ah well then. I guess I'll just have to take him by force." Zabuza's eyes went flat.

Kakashi grimaced and looked back slightly at her Genin. "You three, guard Tazuna. That's your teamwork here. First, I'll take Zabuza on."

"Oh, so I get to see it right away?" Zabuza leered.

Kakashi just shook her head as she lifted her headband up to a proper position, exposing the other side of her face. She was half facing her Genin, the left side of her face scarred with a particularly bad cut going across her eye, her eyelid itself scarred but all three Genin could easily see the Sharingan that she possessed. Naruto and Sasuke both were completely thrown. "H-how?" Naruto muttered. "That's...an Uchiha bloodline."

"What does it do?" Sakura asked with a faint frown. They never really covered bloodlines back in the Academy.

"The Sharingan." Sasuke breathed out, a faint frown on her lips. "Some of the Uchiha have the ability in their eyes to read and defeat all types of Jutsu, be it Nin, Gen, or Tai..." She trailed off, looking thoughtful. "It's not the only ability of the Sharingan, it can see chakra as well, but not on such an advanced stage as the Byakugan, and then there's one more."

"Huh?" Sakura blinked a couple times. "Why don't they go over this kind of stuff in the Academy? They didn't mention any bloodlines really."

"Hah!" Zabuza barked out, even he knew this. "The scary part of the Sharingan is that you can copy your opponent's own jutsu once you've seen them. Just once is enough to be able to replicate any single technique." He hefted his sword a bit more with a smirk on his lips as the area started to fog up. "When I was still a Shinobi of Mist, I kept a handbook with information from the Bingo Book; some of the information on you was pretty interesting. The woman who has copied over a thousand different jutsu. Copy Ninja Kakashi, also known as Sharingan Kakashi."

"Seriously? First that old Hokage and then our Sensei is really that cool?" Sakura murmured softly, though loud enough to be heard. "I didn't know they were _that_ great."

Naruto just giggled softly while Sasuke was eyeing Kakashi with a bit of suspicion while wondering exactly what was going on. '_She's not related to me, she wouldn't be my team leader if that was the case. The Sharingan only happens within the Uchiha and never in just one eye like that...What's going on?'_

Zabuza rolled his eyes as he watched with a smirk hidden by the wrapping around his face, "Well, enough talking." I still need to kill that geezer there. Though, I suppose I'll have to go through you first." He leered at Kakashi for a moment. Pausing only to watch as the little brats jumped to guard Tazuna. With that though, he pushed himself back, jumping through the air and landing on the water while making a one handed seal with his right hand.

"He's releasing a lot of chakra..." Kakashi murmured, trying to keep an eye on Tazuna, her Genin, and Zabuza. "No worry. I've got this." Again, it looked like she was talking to herself.

"_Ninpou, Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu_." Zabuza's voice faded out as he finished the technique. The mist thickening as he faded away from existance.

"There's chakra all through the air..." Naruto murmured softly, her purple and ringed eyes squinting as she tried to find Zabuza in the mist. "But, I can't see him, it's not concentrated. He's gone!"

"He'll come after me first." Kakashi's voice was soft yet still had a hard edge to it. "Momochi Zabuza. As a member of Mist he was a known expert in silent killing." She paused, glancing around and away from her Genin. "You don't even notice until after you're dead. The worst part is that I can't use my Sharingan perfectly. You need to be careful girls."

The three of them gulped nervously. All of them knew that this was what being a ninja was all about and Sasuke and Naruto both had already seen combat, but Naruto's eyes caught something, distracting her. "The mist is getting thicker...shit..."

"Eight choices." Zabuza's voice called out hauntingly from the mist, startling Sakura the most into gasping. "Clavicle. Liver. Lungs. Spine. Neck. Brain. Kidneys. Heart. Which should I go for first?"

The mist continued to get thicker, Kakashi almost disappearing from view despite standing still. The last thing the three Genin and Tazuna saw was the silver-haired woman clasping her hands together suddenly in a half Rat, half Ram seal.

Massive killing intent ripped through the air, shocking the Genin and Tazuna. Naruto wasn't as phased as much having been nearly killed back when she had just turned five so she managed to take it mostly in stride, but that scentless Assassin wasn't a Jounin, and this was enough to make her shake.

Sakura, despite being a civilian wasn't as affected either, in fact, since no one seemed to be focusing on her, she was revelling in it, enjoying the sensation and the thought that she might be cut open and would bleed that precious red fluid. Her inner self flushed, getting hot.

Sasuke was the one that dealt with it the worst. Back during the attempted Massacre by the masked Tobi, there had been no Killing Intent thrown around until after she had passed out. Now she felt like she was receiving the full force of it and it was slowly making her lose control. The kunai she was gripping seemed to be as heavy as lead. It felt like she'd be killed if she moved more than her trembling frame could afford. Would it be worth it to end her life just to get away from this sensation?

"Sasuke!" Kakashi suddenly barked back, diverting her attention from ahead of herself. "Calm down and don't worry. I'll protect you girls even if it means my life." There was a smile on Kakashi's face, "I won't let my comrades die."

"We'll see about that!" Zabuza's voice called, it was obvious the swordsman was sneering. A displacement of air and Zabuza was in the middle of the trio of girls and Tazuna. "It's over."

It all happened within a single second. Zabuza started to swing his massive cleaving sword, intent on killing the three girls and his target. Kakashi's eye opened in the process and she seemed to instantly appear next to Zabuza. In a burst of speed, a kunai was out and piercing the Nuke-Nin's stomach, ripping and tearing at the flesh. Their two bodies clashing together, knocking Zabuza slightly off center was enough to completely disrupt the formation of Team 7.

The back of Zabuza's weapon knocking into Sakura's leg's forcing her to flail about as she fell forward. Kakashi herself had shoved her way past Sasuke, pushing him forward and out of the way while Naruto was belted in the face by the hilt of Zabuza's weapon. Tazuna was the only one that wasn't really affected as he stumbled backwards, trying to get away from Zabuza. All three Genin managed to turn in their tumbles and with looks of surprised, watched as Zabuza's face contorted in pain.

Kakashi frowned slightly, she was crouched low and the blood that was dripping from the kunai wound wasn't red, but...clear?

"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto shrieked in surprise.

'_Ah_.' Kakashi thought as she felt the presence of a second behind her, a smirk hidden behind her mask. The Zabuza in front of her fell apart, water splashing around as the one behind her swung his massive weapon. Kakashi managed to just barely turn in time to watch as she was cleaved in half.

The sword managed to pass just inches away from Sakura as she screamed at the sight of her Sensei being cut in two, her eyes wide as she kept her kunai close and defensively. A split second later and her eyes narrowed as much like Zabuza's first body, Kakashi's also turned into water.

Zabuza's eyes were wide as he thought it over '_Mizu Bunshin? No way. He copied it through my mist?'_

It was enough of a distraction for Kakashi to get behind her opponent. "Don't move. It's over."

"Nice one sensei!" Naruto called out while Sakura giggled madly. Sasuke let out a low sigh of relief and started to slump.

"Heh." Zabuza chuckled once as his entire body shook. "Hah...Hahah. You...you think it's over? You don't get it do you?" His body shook a little more as he started to laugh harder. "You think you've beaten me? Hahaha! There's no way you can beat me with your monkey-esq imitations! But...Heh. I suppose that was impressive of you."

Kakashi didn't say a word, allowing Zabuza to ramble on as she pushed the kunai closer against his throat.

"You already copied my jutsu, didn't you? Back when you said _that_. You had your clone say those words to distract me from the real you." Zabuza's head twisted slightly to look back at the female Jounin. "You got my attention and hid in my mist to watch. A nice plan...but..."

"I'm not that easy..." A harsh whisper suddenly visited Kakashi's ear, her eye widening as she realized that the Zabuza in front of her was enough _Mizu Bunshin_. It fell apart easily as Zabuza started to swing his sword while Kakashi turned.

She managed to drop to the ground fast enough as the weapon sung overhead, cutting off strands of her silver hair, but before she could get back into a defensive position, Zabuza planted the sword tip into the ground, using the hilt as leverage, he pushed himself into a spin, letting go and lashing out with a massive spinning heel kick right into Kakashi's stomach as she managed to just barely stand.

"Heh." Zabuza smirked as he grabbed the hilt of his sword as he continued the spin from the kick, pulling it easily from the ground and dashed forward while Kakashi was still flying through the air. He barely noticed the ground as he skidded to a halt after only a couple steps. "Caltrops huh?" Another sneer was evident despite the bandages as he made a single hand sign. "Foolish." he muttered before disappearing in a _Shunshin_.

"Sensei!" Naruto screamed angrily as a rod erupted from her palm.

Sakura was starting to perspire as she watched in wonder. "Kakashi-Sensei got...knocked down?"

"Damn." Sasuke bit her bottom lip, admiring Zabuza's Taijutsu despite the fact that he was currently an enemy.

A second later, Kakashi spluttered upwards, her body forcing itself upwards as she used chakra to gain leverage on the water, trying to pull herself away. "...! The water...it's heavy?"

"Fool." Zabuza's _Shunshin_ took him directly behind Kakashi as he sped through six different signs. "_Suiton: Suirō no Jutsu!_"

"Damn..." Kakashi cursed mentally as she tried to get away, bringing her hands together to try and force out a _Shunshin_. Before she could manage the heavy water she was in defied gravity and spun itself around her in a sphere. The heavy water becoming even heavier; she couldn't continue to move her arms, nor the rest of her body. Oddly enough she could still breathe?

"Fool." Zabuza repeated. "You might've been trying to escape towards the water but that was a stupid mistake. Heh. I have you in my inescapable water prison now. The water is heavy enough to keep you from moving, and hard enough that it would be like trying to cut through steel." One arm was indeed stuck inside of the sphere; mere inches away from Kakashi, but there didn't seem to be anything she could do.

"Oh well, you'd just be in the way otherwise, making things harder than they had to be." Zabuza turned away and looked towards the three Genin and Tazuna. "I'll deal with you after then, 'cause first, I'm going to take care of them. _Suiton: Mizu Bunshin_."

'_Shit. He's stronger than I thought._' Kakashi mentally cursed herself as she slowly kept dragging her arms together despite the very heavy water.

A single _Mizu Bunshin_ appeared from the water and took several steps from the surface back to dry ground before it started to speak as if it was Zabuza himself. "Hah. Look at you Wearing forehead protectors and acting like real Ninja." Another sneer crossed the missing Nin's face. "Hardly. You know what? A real ninja is someone who has survived constant battles and brushes with death. You're not good enough to be listed in my book which means you're not good enough to be considered Ninja." This clone made a single hand seal and disappeared suddenly.

Naruto could only blink. She wasn't fast enough to bring her weapon up in a defensive stance, nor was she quite fast enough to dodge the kick to her face. Angled in such a way that sent her flying backwards with enough force to undo the knot her Headband was using to keep it around her forehead. The young Uzumaki was sent tumbling until she finally landed in a heap on her back while Sasuke and Sakura cried out in surprise.

"Naruto!" Sasuke and Sakura both called out, tightening their grips on their Kunai. They both watched as Naruto slowly managed to sit herself up, the girl looking completely thrown for a loop.

"Just a brat." the real Zabuza spoke with a shake of his head.

Kakashi's eyes were wide as she stared in anxiety. "You guys! Get away from here! A _Mizu Bunshin_ can only get so far away from its creator. Just take Tazuna and run!" She was frantic, she didn't want to lose more people she was starting to care for. Not again! "As long as he's keeping me here, he can't move!"

Naruto shivered at her Sensei's words, her eyes slowly shutting as she shuddered. Using the chakra rod in her hand, she used it as leverage to pull herself to her feet, the thought of running away came to her, '_I'm gonna die...I'm gonna die..._' she was afraid, she was scared, but as she stumbled once more she started to really think. '_I'm not going to run away. I'm not going to rely on others to save me ever. I'm not going to get scared and run away...I'm not a victim. I'm no one's victim!'_ She glanced back towards Zabuza and Kakashi finding _her_ forehead protector underneath Zabuza's foot.

* * *

_...and I couldn't comprehend it._

* * *

_"Ne, ne, Sensei? Can I borrow your forehead protector?"_

_"My..? Of course not Naruto! This is a symbol of you having grown up and graduated from the Academy."_

_..._

_"Close your eyes Naruto. I have a gift for you. Ah...there we go. Congratulations on Graduating!"_

_..._

_"Do you guys think you deserve to be Ninja?_

_"...you'll be risking your lives in missions. These are heroes that have all lost theirs to protect Konoha._

_"...You pass!"_

_..._

_"I'm not a trouble-making kid anymore! I'll surpass you, I'll surpass the Hokage! I'll have everyone acknowledge my existence, have everyone rely on me...I'll protect everyone!"_

...

_"That's right...I promised myself...I became a ninja, someone worthy of respect. I became a Kunoichi of Konoha and I promised I wouldn't run from anyone. I won't run away! I won't run away from anyone! I am Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of Konoha and I am no one's victim!"_

* * *

_I saw you from a distance..._

* * *

"Ahhh!" Naruto screamed with all her might as she stumbled forward, forcing herself into a dead run, intent on her target, whipping the chakra rod in her hand forward, it spinning wildly through the air while the clone just simply leaned out of the way.

"Naruto, don't!" Kakashi called from her prison.

"Naruto you..." Sasuke whispered; her eyes wide.

Sakura was clutching her head as she whimpered. "What is she thinking? Naruto!"

The _Mizu Bunshin_ just shook its head "Fool." It just lifted up its foot and lashed out, kicking the girl in the face with enough force to send her sprawling, tumbling once again, this time far away enough to slide towards Sasuke, Tazuna and Sakura.

Sakura herself rushed forward those few steps. "Naruto, are you okay? What were you thinking? We...we don't have a chance against him..." her voice went soft as she came closer. Suddenly she froze as Naruto forced herself up from the ground to a sitting position. "Huh? Naruto...?"

Naruto forced herself back to her feet, stumbling a couple of times as she clenched her forehead protector for all it's worth. "Guh...Haa haa..."

"Your...forehead protector?" Sasuke asked while Sakura flushed. They really didn't know what to do other than watch their team mate slowly stand up while trembling; her clothes dirty and blood marring her face coming down from her nose and a busted lip.

"You...haa haa...eyebrow less freak." Naruto spoke between hard gasps for air, completely ignoring the sudden vein pulsating on Zabuza's forehead. "Put this in that damn book of yours. The woman who'll one day become the greatest Kage ever..." She slowly continued to straighten taking one last deep breath while holding her headband. She took a few seconds before she once again had it wrapped around her forehead, back where it belonged once more. "Leaf Kunoichi...Naruto Uzumaki!"

Zabuza stared impassively, annoyed at this little gnat of a girl trying to one up on him and even attempting to sound cool. His eyes narrowed in anger but slowly pushed the annoyance away.

Old Tazuna watched from behind both Sasuke and Sakura, a bit impressed. His opinion had changed for the better as he smiled while watching. "Not as super useless as I first though. Heh."

"Sasuke. I need your ear for a sec..." Naruto shifted, wiping the blood away from her lips with the back of her hand.

"You've got a plan?" The Uchiha narrowed her eyes. "You came up with something in this situation?"

"Of course." The red-headed girl grinned as she glanced back at her first and best friend. "Now...let's get wild!"

Zabuza's clone sneered once more. "Quite a bit of arrogance you brat...but do you stand a chance against someone like me?"

Kakashi was starting to get very nervous, this was getting to be a bit worse that she had originally thought it could ever be. "What are you three doing? I told you to run away! This fight was over the moment I got caught! Our duty is to protect Tazuna, did you forget that?"

"Ah..." Naruto faltered looking from Kakashi to Tazuna.

"Well." Tazuna was looking down, slightly ashamed. "I brought you guys into this mess but I'm not going to say that I desire to live so much that I'd stop you." A mirthless chuckle escaped past his lips. "Sorry guys. I'm really sorry but...fight as much as you want, hey?"

Sasuke just shook her head. "Pft. You hear that?"

"Old Man..." Naruto murmured softly, a smile coming across her lips before she turned back towards Zabuza with a wild grin on her face. "Are you ready?

"Hah...hahaha." The _Mizu Bunshin_ doubled over for a second as it started to laugh. "You brats will never grow up." It ignored Naruto's shout of indignation and shook its head. "Going to keep 'playing' at being a ninja huh?" It lifted its left hand, gazing at it for a moment. "When I was about your age these hands were already dyed red with blood."

"So?" Naruto asked, her face gone deadly calm. "You're not the only one that's killed someone before." Her purple eyes seemed to vibrate with energy as she thrust both hands out towards her sides, two black rods erupting from her palms and falling into her grip. "You'll just be the next person on a list that started when I was five."

That shocked both Sakura and Tazuna. Naruto was already a killer? They gulped when they heard her just state the facts in a cold and dead tone. Sasuke already knew, but only part of the details of that one night, Kakashi knew even more, but all the details were still wrapped up and locked away securely in Naruto's head.

Kakashi shook her head slowly. "The Devil Zabuza..."

"Oh. You've heard about that?" The real Zabuza smirked slightly. "Let's see if we can compare you little brat."

Kakashi kept speaking, cutting Zabuza off from bragging. "Long ago in the Hidden Mist, it was called the Bloody Mist back then; there was a final obstacle to becoming a graduate and a real Genin."

"Ah. You know about that too?" Zabuza looked at his prisoner with a dead look in his eyes. "Hehe...yeah, those were the days."

"What was this graduation?" Naruto's voice was still cold.

"Heh. Fights to the death. Between your fellow students." Zabuza seemed to shudder as he went on. "Friends who have trained and eaten at the same table. Pitted against each other and they continue and continue until one of them is dead. Friends that have helped each other every day, that have shared ideals and dreams, forced to kill."

Sakura shuddered, clasping a hand to her chest while one still held a kunai. She licked her lips as she thought about it and shivered again. "...terrible..." Such...such a waste.

"Over a decade ago, the graduation exam was forced to change. It came about because of the previous year when a devil was reported to appear." Kakashi spoke softly, remembering the details he had hurt about.

Sakura's interest was even more piqued. "Change? What change? What did this...devil...do?" She licked her lips again, trying to not shudder.

"Without pause. Without hesitation a young boy appeared. He wasn't part of the Academy or any part of the Shinobi program, and on the day of the exams...he had killed over a hundred of the students." Kakashi continued.

Seeing that everyone was distracted, Sasuke rushed forward, throwing the kunai as she did. It was all to no avail though as a single shift of balance with the _Mizu Bunshin's_ foot lashing out and pounding Sasuke to the ground.

"Sasuke-chan!" Sakura suddenly shouted. This wasn't good; no this wasn't good at all.

"Die." The clone said softly, reaching backwards over its shoulder and clasping the massive blade with one hand.

"No! _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_" Naruto's voice called out as she put more chakra into the technique then she originally planned out of fear for Sasuke. There were several dozen clones. Oddly enough, they appeared in a circle around the _Mizu Bunshin_. Not even realizing she hadn't even used the hand sign for the technique, six of the clones charged from different angles while most of the rest had their eyes closed.

"Ah. Quite a few _Kage Bunshin_, huh?" Zabuza closed one eye as he tilted his head to the side, a smirk hidden away by his wraps.

Two clones jumped into the air, whipping their chakra rods ahead of them like javelins that the clone shifted to avoid while using the back of his sword to deflect the other. Two more of the six that charged decided to get up close and personal, stabbing from each side while the two that were coming from the front stood back in a defensive position, one having dropped her rods, disintegrating before they hit the ground. "_Bansho Ten'nin!_"

Sasuke was jerked back violently from the ground, being lifted into the air and flew towards the two clones. It felt as if someone had latched onto the back of her shirt and was pulling her. She finally felt the grip on her back fall away as she landed into the hands of both clones that were looking at her with worry in their eyes. "N-Naruto? I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"That's not the time...now listen while he's busy..." one of the clones leaned in and whispered, handing over a Fuuma Shuriken that one of the Naruto's suddenly tossed over.

"Huh. Smart idea." Sasuke smirked as she watched the attacking clones get dispersed by Zabuza while the rest suddenly launched themselves at Zabuza, dog piling on the Nuke-Nin. It wasn't enough though as Zabuza moved in frenzy, his sword and body spinning madly as the sword cut through a good portion of the clones.

Sasuke suddenly look startled at the Fuuma Shuriken in her hand as she pushed herself fully off the ground, skidding backwards in the mud. "Crafty bitch." the Uchiha compliment with a smirk before snapping the large Shuriken open with a flick of her wrist. It was almost as tall as she was as she glared out from behind it, "_Ninpou: Kage Shuriken no Jutsu._"

Sasuke launched herself into the air as high as she could, twisting into a spin, even flipping forward to use her entire body as momentum as she threw the Fuuma Shuriken as hard and as fast as she could. A smirk passed her lips as she saw it rip through the air past the befuddled clone, heading directly towards the original Zabuza.

"Huh, aiming at the real me? You think that's going to do anything to me?" Zabuza sneered his free arm lashing out as and grabbing the middle of the Fuuma Shuriken as if it was nothing more than a simple kunai. He brought it back to his side in order to just throw it back, his arm cocked back as he finally caught sight of the second Fuuma Shuriken in its shadow. "Shit. Another one?"

It was far too close to bring the large Shuriken down to block it; his eyes took on a look of worry before he glanced up. Zabuza's eyes were bloodshot with annoyance and anger. "But...not good enough!" With barely any movement, Zabuza simply hopped, his legs crouched underneath his body, the second Fuuma Shuriken sailing harmlessly underneath.

Zabuza smirked at the shell-shocked Genin and noted their looks of disbelief that their plan hadn't worked. But then he saw the smallest of the Genin smirk dangerously. He felt more than heard the poof of smoke as it was coming behind him and felt something latch onto his leg. That was when the one he saw smirking disappearing into smoke.

"So, you're the real one, huh?" Zabuza looked down at the little girl trying to pull his leg down and into the water with almost no avail. "Looks like you're about to die."

"Me, die? No way in Hell-ttebayo!" The red-head shouted up with no fear as she latched completely around the missing-nin's leg. "Besides, I know something you don't!"

"And that is?" Zabuza muttered, spinning the Fuuma Shuriken intent to bring it down through the head of the latched on Genin.

"I'm not real either!" She re-joined cheerfully before she grinned up, flashing her ringed eyes at Zabuza before she exploded violently.

The Missing Nin was already pushing away from the clone as soon as he heard the second word she said all while coating himself in Water chakra to null the force of the explosion. Without even thinking, he quickly scanned and saw the real Naruto smirking next to Sasuke, and in a rage, he started to charge forward, spinning the Fuuma Shuriken in his hand.

The sound of metal on metal crashed through the air as blood was sprayed once more...

* * *

_...and I watched you smile for them._

* * *

"So, I hear you're finally back up to snuff?" A female voice called out, sitting down across from Itachi Uchiha as he sipped some green tea with an almost blank look on his face.

"Hn." Itachi replied with the traditional Uchiha greeting as he set his tea cup down and looked up at his visitor, one Yugao Uzuki. "Mostly."

"Mostly?" Yugao asked with an arched purple eyebrow, sitting down and motioning for her own cup of tea. She had heard the rumours, but Hayate didn't know much in the end.

"There are…minor complications." Itachi responded with a shrug, sipping his tea once more. "Nothing the current Med-Nin can fix." Another shrug and another sip of tea before placing the cup back upon its saucer.

"Ah." Yugao nodded, looking at the younger member of ANBU. "It's hard to believe it's been five years. Will you be re-joining ANBU? Or perhaps much like Kakashi-senpai and taking a team?"

"Nothing until after my first mission with Jiraiya-sama." Another shrug and sip. "Yourself? Has Hayate-san…?"

"Yugao rolled her eyes slightly and sipped her own tea. "I believe he's waiting until after the exams. They're being held here."

"Hn." Itachi finished his tea, pulling out several bills and laying them on the table. "For your tea." He nodded and stood, pausing only after a small piece of paper drifted down onto the table, his eyes twisting red for barely a split second before fading back to Onyx.

Yugao simply stared at it for a moment, taking up the slip of paper and reading it as she sipped her tea calmly. "You and the nearest Nin of calibre are to see Hokage-sama immediately. Looks like that's me." Yugao let out a small bark of a laugh that oddly seemed right upon her plain features.

"We have some time." Itachi murmured, finishing his tea. "I believe this is in anticipation or because of Sasuke-chan's first C-Rank." Slowly he set his cup down and looked over at Yugao for a moment.

"Planned in advance, just like the rest of them?" Yugao asked with a tilt of her head as she finished her own green tea rather quickly. There went the idea to relax and catch up.

"Mm." Itachi nodded absently, pushing himself up from his chair. "Like the rest, just after a _Tora_ mission."

Yugao's only response was to wince as she stood up, following Itachi to the Hokage Tower with a quick _Shunshin_, though, not as impressive as his _Karasu Shunshin_. A second later, they were both at the Hokage Tower, walking in together and towards the Hokage's Office.

"Come in." The Hokage's voice rang out before either could knock, both ninja looking at each other for a split second before walking inside. "Ah, excellent." The Hokage was sitting behind his desk, puffing on his pipe like usual, a crystal ball in front of him on the middle of the table. "Itachi-kun, Yugao-chan. Enjoying your day off?"

"Hai." Yugao answered with a nod. "I was with Itachi-san when your note came."

"Indeed." The Hokage nodded and pulled out a scroll from his desk somewhere. "Itachi, your sister and her team are embarking on their first C-Rank in a little while. They just need to prepare and leave the village."

The Uchiha heir nodded. "And?"

"Your first priority is to shadow Team Seven." The Hokage's face gained a brief grimace before disappearing behind neutrality. "This is more of a trial by fire for the team, this is not a C-Rank, perhaps not even a B-Rank mission."

Yugao blinked at that, frowning. "Why send Team Seven then and not a team of Chuunin at the very least?"

"Politics being one." The Hokage responded wryly. "Naruto being two and Kakashi being three."

"I'm not sure I quite understand." Yugao mumbled.

"Hn." Itachi nodded faintly. "Kakashi-senpai is…out of shape. This kind of mission will show her that. She has not done any real strenuous missions since her last as ANBU when our team was disbanded. As for Naruto-chan…I am at a loss for that."

"Naruto sees things through rose-tinted glasses." The Hokage puffed on his pipe slowly. "This is her first foray into an actual Mission, into Wave no less. You know of her dream, correct?" He asked getting nods before going on. "Exactly. I am trying to prepare her for the worst." A faint sigh escaped him as he looked older than he had in years.

"She will be Hokage one day." Itachi nodded in agreement.

The Hokage nodded slowly. "Exactly, but until then, she needs to prepare. You two, if you don't mind, Yugao, will be back up for just in case. No one is to know you're there. Do not interfere unless absolutely necessary. Let Team Seven deal with what they can."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." They both nodded and _Shunshined_ out of the room.

Within the hour, they were following far behind Team Seven, watching them deal with the Chuunin from Kiri. None of them noticed the two of them, wearing their ANBU masks as they had been perched in the trees before finally going up to the two tied up Chuunin. Itachi dealt with them swiftly, his Sharingan spinning wildly behind his mask as he got the information out quickly using a Genjutsu.

They followed Team Seven rather slowly after that since they knew the team would be on high alert after that, but they did start to talk, not being overheard because of the range.

"Why isn't Naruto wearing her goggles?" Yugao asked softly, her concern showing for her family member.

"After what happened to the Uchiha," Itachi started with a grimace hidden behind his mask. "There was no need, the Hokage believed. The attacker knew when Naruto attacked him. It's not exactly public knowledge, but one person knowing it means there was no point in hiding it."

"I still don't understand what's being hidden." Yugao finally responded after five minutes of thinking it over. "Her eyes are still purple, nothing has really changed. Doujutsu aren't that common of a bloodline, sure, but, what's so important about rings?"

Itachi nodded at that, knowing of a couple outside of the Sharingan and Byakugan. "It was at Jiraiya-sama's request, though, Hokage-sama originally was going to get Naruto a pair of goggles as a gift anyway. It was a precautionary measure since her eyes were damaged in that attack."

Yugao just nodded.

Their conversations were over different things over the days it took to follow quietly behind Team Seven, though they decided to go ahead instead of waiting behind while Team Seven waited for a boat. They were both quite impressed with the size of the bridge too.

Itachi tensed when Zabuza appeared, none of his senses picking it up, but with Yugao's hand on his shoulder, he didn't interfere, watching almost with morbid curiosity even as Naruto had a clone blow up on Zabuza's leg, both ANBU masked ninja's eyes widening in complete surprise. Neither of them knew the girl had learned that from the scroll.

They sat in silence, watching warily, neither noticing another masked ANBU on the opposite side of the clearing where Team Seven was fighting Zabuza. None of the three moving even as Zabuza's acquired Fuuma Shuriken was blocked by the metal on the back of Kakashi's gloved fist.

The fight continued, even as Kakashi completely overpowered the Missing-Nin, both launching a _Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu_, though Kakashi's giant water dragon managed to take her opponent out while Zabuza hesitated due to being under a slight Genjutsu.

Kakashi went to finish off Zabuza but paused as Zabuza fell to the ground, senbon sticking out of his neck.

"Odd." Itachi mumbled, watching as a Kiri ANBU appeared and took away the body.

"Agreed." Yugao nodded. "I heard that ANBU in Kiri had a special section for Hunters."

"They do." Itachi agreed. "But I could've sworn I heard that they dealt with bodies on the spot." He watched stoically as Kakashi eventually fell over after pulling her forehead protector down. "Her stamina is shot."

"Should we help?"

"No, they can handle it. Follow them to Tazuna-san's house."

"Hai."

The two slowly followed the group even as Tazuna helped carry Kakashi towards his house.

* * *

_Is this what it means to be alone?_

* * *

The days at Tazuna's home passed quickly, especially when Kakashi decided to show her three Genin how to climb trees. Sure there were complaints about it at first, but that was until when Kakashi showed them, rather smugly at that, how to climb with just their feet alone. Sakura managed it on her first try rather easily, Sasuke made it up a fair distance whereas Naruto flubbed it up on her first try, only getting up three steps before being launched off.

The other two girls burst up giggling at Naruto who cursed the two of them and tried again, only getting up four steps before repeating the process. Naruto then realized she could see the glow of chakra from both Sakura and Sasuke's feet and paused, watching Sakura go up the tree again, waiting and watching as the pinkette went up the tree twice before Naruto managed to understand and get her chakra regulated properly. She burst out cackling as she got up to a decent height before sitting down.

Sasuke mock sneered at her best friend, but stopped when Naruto gave her advice.

Kakashi was impressed, the three of them getting it down within the hour for running up a tree. She then proceeded to tell them to walk up the tree since it was a lot harder. That exercise took up the rest of the morning before the trudged back to Tazuna's for breakfast.

That was when Inari started to yell that everyone would die and that they were fools for going up against Gatou. The four Kunoichi pretty much ignored him, though they did ask about it after he ran off in tears. The day proceeded as normal, and it was only the first day.

The second day, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had finished being able to walk up the tree so Kakashi got the three girls to walk up the tree backwards until breakfast. Again, Inari yelled and ran off crying, the four Kunoichi ignoring him once more, but this time, Naruto's eye started to twitch.

The third day went the same, the three girls getting walking up and down the trees backwards until breakfast. Inari was still in his room, not wanting to see 'the idiots' as he had dubbed them. The day went as the last two had. That was until the evening when they found out what exactly happened to the man named Kaiza around lunch.

Inari's rant that very night caused Naruto to snap back in response.

"You think you've had it rough?" Naruto sneered, her head resting on her forearms, just barely looking up at Inari. "You're nothing but a brat."

"You don't understand! You could never understand what I've been through!" Inari screamed. "You're just a happy fool! You don't know that pain I've gone through!"

Naruto sneered, her eyes flashing dangerously. "I…I don't know what pain is? Is that it? You're just a stupid little brat. You don't what true pain is. You just know some suffering; everyone here at the table knows what that is. You're not some main character in your own play, the one who's suffered the worst. You at least have a _family_." Naruto spat the last word. "I know what pain is, I know exactly what hatred is. You! You're just a little spoiled brat! You've got food on the table; you've got your mother, your grandfather right here at this very _fucking table!_ Until I met Sasuke…I had _**NO ONE!**_"

"Naruto…" Sasuke spoke softly, reaching out as Naruto's voice started to change, going deeper and angry.

The red-head didn't seem to notice as she pushed herself back from the table, the birthmarks on her face seemingly getting thicker as she started to rant. "I never knew my father, my mother! I don't know who they are, people in my own village hate me, and they've tried to beat me, starve me, and kill me! You, you little shit, you don't know what pain is! You're the one that doesn't fucking understand!" She pushed herself away from the table, her chair falling as she moved away violently, heading towards the front door. "I'm going out!" She shrieked back before slamming the door hard enough to rattle the frame.

"Naruto…" Sakura sighed as she trailed off. "You've got it nice here, kid." Sakura said softly, remembering what she had seen when she was out with Tazuna in town. "You've got food on the table, a good bunch of the kids in the village don't even have that much. You're not the only one to lose a loved one to Gatou."

She stood up as well, pushing away from the table. "Thank you for the mean, Tsunami-san. I'm going to go make sure Naruto is fine. Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-chan, Tazuna-san." She bowed, leaving the table slowly, leaving the house and closing the door gently.

After that, Inari fled crying to his room. Sasuke stood up, not saying anything and helped clear the table for Tsunami while Kakashi apologized to both Tazuna and Tsunami.

"Is that true?" Tsunami asked in a hushed whisper.

"Hai." Kakashi responded softly, her voice very quiet. "I was on my way back from a mission when I had come across her being attacked by a mob when she was still four. She should have died that day, honestly. Someone stabbed her in the chest, almost nicking her heart."

"People would do that to a little girl? Who could be so cruel?" Tazuna spoke with a shake of his head.

Kakashi shrugged her shoulders, finally pulling her mask down to eat quickly while Tazuna was musing, not caring that Tsunami was watching even as hearts grew in her eyes at the beauty of Kakashi's face. She finished before Tazuna could look up. "People fear what they don't understand, and they search for something to blame when tragedy strikes." Her voice was cryptic gaining frowns from the two adults. "She was born on October 10th."

A small gasp escaped from Tazuna as he suddenly understood, he looked almost questioningly at Kakashi who just nodded. "They blame her for…for that? That's nonsense! She was just born!"

"Father?" Tsunami asked.

Tazuna shook his head. "The day the Kyuubi no Youko attacked Konoha, everyone eventually heard of it. They say the Fourth Hokage killed it, but their losses before then were severe. It's how people like Gatou managed to even gain a foothold here in Wave. Normally it wouldn't have been possible, but with Konoha's forces at an all-time low…"

"Hai." Kakashi intoned solemnly. "I think…that's part of the reason we were given this mission." Kakashi sighed and rubbed her chin. "Things are going to get real interesting really soon."

* * *

_I just wanted to say it once..._

* * *

"Hey…"

Ngh…

"…ak up?"

'_Go away…_'

"…catch a cold if you lay there."

"…Huh?"

A gentle shove on the shoulder. "Come on, wake up."

Naruto blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes as she sat up suddenly and wearily. She looked around with blurry eyes as she rubbed the sleep out, blinking several more times as she looked at her surroundings.

"Ah, you're awake."

"Huh?"

The girl in front of Naruto smiled softly, crouching down beside her, hand slowly pulling back as she watched the red-head blink several more times.

"Oh. Haha." Sorry about that, guess I fell asleep?" Naruto's face scrunched up in thought.

"You shouldn't sleep in the forest you know." The girl said softly with another smile. "You could get sick."

"Nah! I've never gotten sick except those two times when I was a kid." Naruto stuck out her tongue and knocked herself childishly on the head. "Thanks for waking me up. Guess I over did it last night." She paused for a moment. "Oh. Ah…who are you? Uhm, what are you doing too?" She scratched her cheek sheepishly.

"I'm just picking herbs." The girl said with another smile.

"Herbs?" Naruto asked with a frown."

A nod. "Hai. They're for injuries, they help cure them and illnesses."

"Oh. Did you want some help? I can help, really!" Naruto spoke happily, completely forgetting she hadn't received the cute girl's name.

Another smile and the girl showed Naruto exactly which herbs to pick, it didn't take too long to find a good spot for picking. Several minutes later, just Naruto picked up one more herb, dropping it into the basket and sitting back down in a huff.

"So tedious." She muttered. "Heyhey, why are you doing something like this so early in the morning anyway?"

The girl blinked and deflected this question like the rest. "What are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"Training!" Naruto spoke enthusiastically.

"Huh?" The girl looked almost blankly at Naruto, tilting her head to the side. "Are you a ninja or something like that? That forehead protector…"

"Yep. I'm a ninja." Naruto grinned, pointing her thumb at her chest, thumping it a few times.

"Ah." The girl's face flickered neutrally for a moment before another smile crossed her lips. "That's amazing." Her voice was soft, almost subdued. Naruto grinned, giggling a little as the girl went on. "But…why were you training enough to fall asleep in the forest?"

Naruto paused at that question, her own voice becoming slightly subdued. "I…I want to be stronger."

"You already look plenty strong." The girl commented, kneeling next to her basket in the grass.

"No." Naruto shook her head. "Not at all. I want to become stronger, much stronger." A faint shrug rolled onto her shoulders.

"Oh? For what reason?" The girl looked oddly interested in that answer.

"I'm weak." Naruto looked oddly ashamed with that answer. "I'm not strong enough. I've never been strong enough. I…" Naruto trailed off, brightening almost instantly as if she remembered something. "I want people to recognize me. To become the number one Kunoichi in my village. To prove something to someone…yeah…" She chirped cheerfully, eyes closed as a foxy grin placed itself on her lips.

She didn't notice the girl leaning in at that, eyeing her studiously, nor did Naruto notice the frown on her lips. "Are…you doing that for someone? Someone else, or perhaps for yourself?" Her voice was calm and soft, another smile on her lips as Naruto relaxed and opened her eyes.

"Hm…" The girl giggled at that response. "What? What's so funny?"

"Do you have someone important to you? Someone precious?" The girls' face was soft, but her voice had an almost imploring and demanding edge to it.

"Someone important?" Naruto looked almost lost for a moment. She did, but she didn't understand what was being asked. "What do you mean?" The girls' face lowered, her eyes softening as silence reigned in the forest clearing. Naruto blinked several times, an idle thought of curiosity running through her head as she watched when the girl finally raised her head and looked at Naruto, staring almost intently.

"A person…" The girl began softly, almost trailing off as she clutched the pink fabric of her clothing at the knees. "…they become strong, truly strong, when they wish to protect someone important, who they really cherish.

Naruto stared for a moment, repeating the words inside of her head as she looked down towards the basket near them, memories running rampant in her head. Kaka-sensei from days before, the Old Man and Sasuke in the Uchiha compound when it was attacked by that freak, her ANBU guard when she was still just a child… Iruka-sensei when Mizuki attacked in the forest and her angry reaction…

"Yeah…I can understand that." Naruto smiled after a moment of thought and nodded with a grin.

The girl smiled and nodded, leaning to the side and picking up her basket of herbs as she did. "You'll become strong then." She nodded, turning to Naruto.

"Yep!" Naruto nodded, still sitting cross legged on the grass.

"Let's meet again then?" The girl asked as she turned around, her smile dropping almost instantly.

"Sure thing." Naruto nodded with a grin. "Oh, I forgot, my name's Naruto! It was good to meet you."

The girl turned back and smiled again. "Haku. Oh and, by the way?"

"Yeah?" Naruto blinked, tilting her head upwards.

"I'm a guy." Haku remarked idly, the smile turning to a small grin as Naruto's mouth gaped open for a few seconds.

"A guy?" Naruto repeated, snapping her jaw shut tightly as a blush ran its way across her tanned face. "But, but, you're cuter than Sakura-chan!" Naruto blurted out, her hands coming to her mouth as she finished shouting. "I mean…ah…heh heh…sorry?"

"That's fine, Naruto-chan." Haku smiled with a faint nod. "But I need to get going."

"Ah…can I…meet you here tomorrow?" Naruto asked, her face still having a blush on it.

Haku almost looked surprised at the question, his head tilting to the side as he looked at Naruto carefully before nodding slowly. "I think I'd like that. I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto."

Haku slowly turned and walked off with Naruto watching him a blush still on her face. The youngest member of Team Seven blinked a few times as Haku walked by Sasuke, Haku not stopping but Sasuke had for a split second to look at the passing boy.

"This world is engulfed in mysteries." Naruto mumbled as Sasuke walked up, looking down at a cross-armed Naruto before knocking her on the head. "Hey, what was that for?"

"Did you forget about breakfast? Idiot." Sasuke rolled her eyes and smirked for a moment before the grin on Naruto's face caused Sasuke to rear back and blink a few times. "Weirdo."

"Bah!" Naruto exclaimed while pointing in the direction Haku left. "Did you see, that was a guy!"

"…Seriously?" Sasuke blinked, looking back, no longer able to see Haku in the distance. "He was more girly than Sakura…"

"He was so nice; he woke me up and everything. I helped him pick up some herbs for something and he's gonna be back tomorrow so we can talk." Naruto nodded while quickly speaking, another foxy grin on her face.

"Well come on, you need to eat or you'll pass out." Sasuke reminded her friend and helped Naruto to her feet with one hand. "Let's go."

"Heh, yeah!"

* * *

_...before it all went away._

* * *

"Haku?"

"Yes, Naruto-chan?"

The two were sitting together in the same small clearing they originally met, a blanket underneath them with two picnic baskets besides them along with a couple small plates and several napkins. Though Haku's still hadn't been opened yet. It had been four days since they had met, and going by Kakashi's estimation, tomorrow would be the day of the big fight if Zabuza really was alive. The day before, Naruto worked up the nerve to ask Haku on a semblance of a date. They had decided on an evening picnic when it was cooler and not as bright out so that they could also enjoy their own privacy.

"I well…" Naruto was fidgeting, unsure of how to word what she wanted to say.

Haku just smiled. "Take your time."

Naruto nodded a blush on her face as she nibbled at a sandwich that Tsunami helped make. "Well, I was wondering…" She trailed off and instead decided to just blurt it out. "Willyoucomebacktokonohawithme?"

Haku blinked a few times, barely able to catch. "Slower, Naruto-chan." He spoke with a smile.

"Sorry. Haha, jeeze. Will you come back to Konoha…with me? When we leave I mean. Tazuna-san said the bridge won't take much longer to complete, and, well…you can bring your Father too! He's the one you've been picking herbs for, right? I mean, Konoha's got this great hospital, and no one'll mind! I can easily talk the Old Man into it no-problem-ttebayo!"

"Naruto-chan. You're rambling." Haku murmured softly, rolling his eyes as the girl continued to talk, not quite hearing Haku. He didn't mind though as this gave him precious seconds to go through so many ideas in his head.

"Ah…Heh heh." Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of her head as she realized that Haku was simply staring at her. "I know it's a bit sudden but…will you think about it?" Naruto looked almost hopeful at the prospect.

Haku simply smiled for a moment. "I'll talk to him about it. Sure."

Naruto's smile got even bigger. "That'd be so awesome! Then I'd be able to show you around and you can beat Teuchi-ojisan and Ayame-neesan! They make the best Ramen ever, they have their own stand and everything."

A tilt of Haku's head as the boy let Naruto ramble on and on a bit more about the people she knew. It was another few minutes before Haku interrupted Naruto while taking a sandwich. "Naruto…don't you have any friends your own age?"

Naruto stopped dead, her rippled eyes boring almost blankly into Haku's own for a moment causing the older boy to almost lurch back. There was silence between the two as they both finished their respective sandwich pieces, Naruto closing her eyes for a full minute while Haku watched on in curiosity. There seemed to be something off with the red-haired girl, but Naruto finally opened her eyes slowly and looked down, her bangs covering her face.

""My only real friend is Sasuke, I guess. We've been friends since I was just a kid, even before my accident. She didn't used to like me though. I think she hated me when we were three, but I kept pestering her, you know? She was so smart, and she had a family, a family! I was envious that she had this cool older brother, and a father and a mother and all that kinda stuff. Even now though, it always feels like I'm pestering her for attention and that she'll end up hating me."

There was a faint pause between the two, Haku slowly nodding. "I think I understand. I didn't have any friends growing up either." The boy smiled ever so slightly as he finally opened his own basket, pulling out a single drink and handing it to Naruto. "I was rather alone growing up, the person I'm caring for took care of me after…"

Naruto winced slightly. So it wasn't Haku's father, great.

Haku shook his head and looked ruefully at Naruto. "No need to apologize, I didn't tell you. It's a long story after all."

"We've got time if you don't mind telling me?" Naruto asked, sipping the drink absently.

"Well…I suppose."

Haku went on to explain his rather childhood to Naruto, and to put it lightly, it wasn't a happy affair at all. The boy, Naruto could tell, was leaving out details here and there, but she was quite sure he just didn't want to make her feel worse about asking. Both of them dead, his Father even going so far as to kill Haku's mother, it was disgusting and heart wrenching and Naruto felt horrible for even bringing it up. Throughout the entire tale, Haku kept handing Naruto a new drink every time the smaller red-head kept finishing them off. With each drink, Naruto started to feel more and more tired.

The night trudged on as Haku finished their story, the sun had already set off in the horizon as Haku slowly started to pack up, looking down at Naruto's half asleep body.

"I'll get you home, don't worry Naruto-chan." The boy whispered as he bundled everything together in the blanket, holding it with one hand and scooping Naruto up in both.

'_Sorry Naruto. I can't have you interfere tomorrow. I'll do anything and everything for Zabuza-sama._' Haku thought to himself as he slowly walked Naruto home, dropping the girl off with a quick apology for having the girl out so late.

He never did notice Naruto's purple ringed eyes flashing a crimson red before having finally shut just before Haku had picked her up. Nor did he notice the two wearing masks in the distant trees.

* * *

_I've never had one before._

* * *

The whispers of a dying dream, a memory long lost and forgotten to the past. An unnatural sleep was the second step, the opening of the Box was the first. They had been years apart, but the third step would be sooner. Sadly, it would more than likely be much, much sooner.

Within that unnatural sleep, a girl slept, dreaming a dream that had died centuries, maybe even millennia before. She was drawn deep into the flashes of old memories, carried out through random happenstance and odd chance. A vision of eyes, watching, waiting, judging, and bleeding out, that was the way things had been.

It was the way things would be once again.

Within her waking slumber, she staggered from memory to memory, lost, confused, but not scared, instead filled with a slight bit of awe and wonderment. Battles of an untold magnitude were things she saw from a distance, as if in the sky, a watching angel tending to the land. She whispered words she didn't understand, her body moving without command.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days, days to weeks, weeks to years…

All within the darkness of a dream, but that wasn't everything. No. That was just on the inside, her mind turned within.

On the outside things were different.

Much like within, she moved without thought, a dead look to her features. Unknowingly, she'd been left behind, not even answering the words that had been sent her way by the one who's house she'd been sleeping within.

To the trees she had gone when she was outside of the house, her speed slightly slowed in her half-awake state, not even noticing the slash marks upon the trees or the dead boar underfoot. Neither did she notice the two that had been watching her in masks and dark clothing before they went along the marked path.

Within, she watched as a man stood against a giant beast, what could truly be called a demon.

Outside, her body acted upon its own, slowly making its way to a bridge and a fight.

Within, a white flash of energy as the beast disappeared, the man falling to his knees in victory and pain. On all sides were corpses. The country littered with the ones that held back the monstrosity for this very moment.

Outside, she finally made it to the bridge, only somewhat aware that there'd been two fights. One, her sensei against the Missing-Nin, the second a fight within chakra reinforced _Hyouton_ Mirrors.

Both chakra signatures felt familiar, enough so that even within, she managed to realize what was going on, her dreams had left her into nothingness.

'_Sasuke…_'

Crimson faded to Indigo.

Wake.

Up.

* * *

_Will you be my first one?_

* * *

"No!"

The single word coming from Naruto was accompanied by a shuriken flying through air, smashing through the mask of the one attacking Sasuke within the mirrors. That and the shout was enough to cause Zabuza and Kakashi to stop their impromptu melee to look and stare at Naruto.

There we no burst of smoke, no more words as Naruto, without thought, charged forward towards her best friend. She didn't care about the fake Hunter-Nin slowly picking himself up, or the old bridge builder standing there behind a defensive Sakura. She didn't even notice the shuriken that Zabuza suddenly threw in the sudden lull or even the fact that the fake ANBU had deflected them with senbon. Naruto's entire priority was on Sasuke.

She didn't stop either, completely ignoring the world and the distractions as she scooped up the badly cut and bruised Sasuke rather easily. An idle thought of how odd it was that Sasuke was so light. Naruto had been fast enough to get within the mirrors as she charged.

Sasuke wasn't completely crippled though, and even as she was snapped up by Naruto and cradled against the smaller yet stronger girl, she snapped off several seals and threw out a _Gōkakyū_ that managed to deter Zabuza's subordinate enough for the two of them to get out of the mirrors.

That was when two senbon imbedded themselves into the back of Naruto's legs, causing the girl to stumble forward, dropping Sasuke directly into the path of the masked boy's foot. He sent the girl flying back into the center of the mirrors with a lash of his foot, a quick spin and a side kick sent Naruto sprawling and inside just the same.

Naruto flipped through the air, landing on her feet with her hand bracing her as she skid backwards, snarling as a black rod erupted from her palm as she flung it violently like a spear right at her opponent but the boy just sidestepped the projectile as he walked right into the ice mirror, his reflection appearing on every single one of them.

"You cannot escape my _Makyō Hyōshō_." His voice faltered at the beginning and then held strong at the end, his mask slightly tilted towards Naruto's direction, the slash mark almost deep enough to go through the entire mask. "Please surrender. I do not wish to kill you."

"Surrender? Surrender to someone who's trying to kill Old Man Tazuna, the hope of this town? I don't think so you bastard." Naruto snarled lowly as she put her two hands together and wordlessly summoned five _Kage Bunshin_. Four of which went in a protective circle around Sasuke and Naruto while the fifth pulled the two Senbon from Naruto's legs quickly within the smoke.

Sasuke had been watching once she had been kicked back into the mirrors, cursing her luck. Naruto should've stayed on the outside instead of coming in after her, but what was done was done. "Quit making speeches, Naruto." She murmured, hiding behind a body of one of the clones before letting loose with the biggest _Gōkakyū no Jutsu_ she could come up with directly into one of the mirrors.

"Nothing?" Sasuke gasped, coughing on her dry throat as she looked at the barely touched mirror.

"That didn't do anything at all?" One of the Naruto clones shook her head as they all thought their way through things.

"You can't melt my ice with such a small fire." The boy commented calmly from one of the mirrors.

"Damn, damn, damn." Sasuke cursed, going through several hand seals once more, but she wasn't fast enough as the boy hefted up a senbon and just…moved.

Both girls screamed in pain, their bodies being thrashed and lifted up with the sheer ferocity and force of the thrown senbon, their bodies falling to the ground as the five _Kage Bunshin_ were dealt with instantly.

"It's not a Bunshin…" Naruto hissed out. "He's attacking from everywhere, the chakra in the mirrors is connected and we're in a complete dome of the stuff."

"Oh?" The boy asked from behind his mask. "Trying to follow me with your eyes is impossible you know. You'll never catch me and you won't escape."

"Bah. Shows what you know. _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu._" Naruto growled out, six clones appearing this time, enveloping Naruto and Sasuke once more. They couldn't see out past the mist to the rest of the bridge which meant no _Kawamiri_ with some supplies. Damn. "Well, let's give it a try then!" She'd seen it dozens of times by now after all.

Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger.

"_Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu_!" Four of the clones roared angrily, fireballs twice the size of Sasuke's flying out from their separate mouths as Naruto and two of her clones simply picked up Sasuke and threw her with all of their might outside of the dome of mirrors.

The raven haired Uchiha hit the ground rolling violently away from both the dome and the current standoff between Zabuza and Kakashi She was finally stopped with her back ramming hard against some of the construction equipment, hidden once more within the mist.

"NARUTO!" She screamed. "You idiot, you fool, don't fight him by yourself!" She pushed herself to her feet, or rather, tried to, but her muscles were sore and she still had senbon sticking in her, pushed in more violently from the roll.

"I've got this, don't worry1" Naruto called out before her own scream of pain echoed through the air before cutting off into a scream of anger. "You bastard! No one touches me there!"

Sasuke faltered back down to the ground, twitching, not even knowing her eyes had shifted from onyx to red.

"Sorry." The boy said simply, slipping back into one of his mirrors as he looked down at Naruto impassively. "Tell me. Why do you try so hard? I will have to kill you eventually if you do not stop."

"I can't die here." Naruto said panting, a small smirk on her face as she pushed her bloody hands through her hair. "I've got a dream to fulfill."

"A dream…" The boy muttered, seemingly pausing as his head tilted down in every mirror as if in contemplation. He shook his head slowly, snapping out of it and continued softly. "Becoming a true Shinobi is hard for me; I don't want to kill you just as I don't want you to kill me. Yet…yet if you continue to come at me I will be forced to quell and cut out my heart to become a true Shinobi.

"This bridge where we're fighting is a place where we connect to our dreams. Me for mine and you for yours. Please…please don't hate me, I want to protect what is precious and dear to me. To make their dreams come true is what I am here for, that is my dream. For that dream I can become a Shinobi and I can kill you." The masked boy finally paused, looking straight at Naruto within only one mirror. "Will you please surrender?"

Naruto stared at her opponent standing there within the ice mirror, the words passing through her as she thought about them, memories of the past flickering through her mind. "I would ask the same of you." Naruto finally whispered, looking almost downcast. "Your dream…his dream, would cost them theirs. The people of Wave and their dreams; what give you the right to trample on their hopes and dreams of a better lie, a better tomorrow?" Naruto threw her arms around as if leaving her body completely defenseless. "I will protect old man Tazuna and Wave and their dreams. I'll fight and I won't die to you. I won't be your victim!"

The red-head's eyes flashed dangerously as the masked boy flickered through the rest of the mirrors, his reflection in everyone once again. "I see. Forgive me then." The boy's voice was a dead monotone.

Before Naruto could even react, speak the two words that would probably end the fight, senbon hailed from every window, cutting into and through her in several dozen non-lethal points, piercing directly from one side of her arms and legs through to the other side, her back being stabbed through multiple times as she fell to a knee.

"I will just have to put you out of commission then." The boy whispered softly, holding up a couple of senbon as he stepped from the mirror.

"Shit." Naruto whispered, trying to bring her arms up even though they felt like dead weight.

"Sorry. Goodbye." The boy murmured softly. "_Suiton_: _Sensatsu Suishō_." Several one handed seals as the water rose from the air, hardening into spikes and rushed at Naruto.

The red head shut her eyes, waiting for the end to come, the sensation of being moved was all she felt, no pain, nothing. That was when the scream echoed through her ears as her eyes snapped open to see Sasuke standing there, pierced through by the water.

"S-Sasuke! Why, why'd you go and do something stupid like that?" She whispered as she pushed herself from the ground, barely able to catch the girl before she fell backwards, coughing up blood.

"I had to you idiot…" Sasuke coughed more blood, the red of her newly awakened Sharingan fading. "What would brother say…if I couldn't protect…my best friend..?"

"Shush, shush, it's gonna be okay Sasuke, it's gonna be fine, you'll see, right? Right?" Naruto started to speak frantically as Sasuke's eyes started to close.

"Guess…you'll have to…get my revenge…for me." Sasuke smiled weakly, her eyes finally closing as the last two words trembled out. "Don't…die…Naruto…"

The silence was deafening for Naruto who stared down at her best and first friend. Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes as she stared down at Sasuke as she started to whisper frantically once more. "Sasuke? Come on Sasuke, this ain't funny…Sasuke, come on…wake up…"

"Is this the first time you've watched someone die?" The masked boy asked, still standing there, an emotionless rock behind his mask. "She died as a true Shinobi." The boy took several steps back towards his mirrors.

"Shut up…" Naruto whispered hoarsely.

"She died to protect you." The boy went on absently. "She's a Kunoichi that deserves respect."

"Shut up…" Naruto whispered again, whimpering in pain.

"This is the path of a ninja." The boy finally concluded.

Naruto froze over Sasuke's boy, her tears dripping from her face. "Shut up."

The boy flickered into every mirror once again, ready to attack once more but what he saw stopped him in his tracks.

Naruto crouched over Sasuke's body, still holding her neck gently, the girl's hair suddenly standing more on end, more spiky than before, the purple in her eyes was gone replaced completely with red while the marks on her face had grown wider, angrier. Her nails had become claws and her entire body was tensed.

"_**I'll kill you!**_"

The entire area filled with something deep, oppressive, malevolent and angry. The hate in the air was palpable and red chakra started to fill the air as Naruto slowly stood. The senbon in her back being pushed out violently, the ones in her arms and legs seemingly snapping in two and being thrown out as well. Her cuts and bruises faded as the chakra wrapped around her, roaring in contempt and madness.

The boy stared, confused, wondering how such chakra could do a thing, his eyes widening behind the mask as the chakra formed a monstrous face and roared once more before almost vanishing back into Naruto.

Everything went Red.

* * *

_Will you be my friend?_

* * *

_Pain is Us.  
__We are Living.  
__Pain is Me.  
__I'm wrapped up in Fear._


End file.
